About Your Admission

Even though you are “nil per mouth” on the morning of your procedure, please take all your chronic medication on the morning of your admission. Patients on insulin should notify the staff as a glucose infusion (drip) should be started for such patients to avoid hypoglycaemia and keep them well hydrated.

At the time of your initial consultation you will be given an AMPATH or LANCET ( blood tests request ) form. Please hand this  to the nursing staff upon your admission in order for the lab staff to take your blood prior to your procedure.

Please bring a list of your chronic medication.

Patients taking warfarin should have an INR done on the morning of admission – please notify the nursing staff if you are on Warfarin

Drugs like Warfarin, Pradaxa & Xarelto should be stopped prior to coming in for your procedure – please do this in consultation with your doctor.

Please do not stop Disprin, Ecotrin, Aspirin, Plavix, Plagrol or Clopiwin prior to coming in or on the day of your admission

Please make sure that you have signed the consent form and that you understand the procedure as well as possible complications and side effects of medications used. These will have been explained to you by the doctor

Please notify the staff if you have any allergies.

Please note: A theatre list determining the order in which patients are taken to Cath lab is compiled once all the patients for the day have been admitted in the morning prior to us starting with the first case (patient/procedure). This list will therefore not be available at the hospital reception at the time when you are admitted. Emergency, sick and elderly patients are always seen to first, and it may be that you will only go to theatre later in the day or in the afternoon. The duration of angiograms, angioplasty and stent procedures as well as pacemaker procedures differ form one patient to another, usually related to the complexity of the procedure. It is therefore impossible to predict an exact time at which you would be taken to theatre. Patients predicted to go in after 12 midday will be provided with tea/coffee and a light snack in the morning.

Patients who have had a balloon and/or stent procedure will need to stay in overnight.

Patients who have had a pacemaker inserted will need to stay in overnight.

Patients who have had their procedures in the course of the morning before 13h00, in whom radial access was possible with normal results, may go home on the same day, usually after 19h00. Please refer to discharge information. Please do not request early discharge in the afternoon as this causes enormous strain on the doctor and theatre staff and is unfair to the patients that are still waiting to have their procedures done.