PRE-ANESTHESIA CLINIC (PAC)
The PAC provides comprehensive patient-centered preoperative clinical service that aims at improving the outcome across the surgical continuum. It provides a safe and cost-effective way for patient preparation in advance for Anesthesia and Surgery.
The clinic is located on the second floor of the Out-Patient Clinic building. It is conducted daily. A senior anesthesiologist is assigned to assess patients who are referred from different specialties including general surgery, urology, ENT, obstetrics & gynecology, orthopedics and ophthalmology clinics.
Patients are evaluated by the anesthesiologist, investigations are ordered and reviewed. If the patient needs optimization prior to going ahead with the planned procedure, he/she is referred to the appropriate specialty. The PAC serves as an excellent opportunity for the anesthesiologist and the patient to discuss the anesthetic plan, postoperative analgesia and any queries that the patient might have.
A well planned admission for elective surgery avoids unnecessary last minutes cancelations or delays on the day of surgery and consequently reduces wasted operative time and cost of hospitalization. It yields high level of patient and surgeon satisfaction.
CHRONIC PAIN CLINIC
The pain clinic provides comprehensive management of patients with chronic pain (usually more than 3-6months) and when traditional or conventional therapies have failed.
The Pain Clinic is run twice a week by Dr. Ali Al-Abadi, the Pain Specialist. Patients are referred to the clinic from other specialists in SQUH as well as from other tertiary hospitals in Oman. Appointment is given to the patient to undergo a detailed assessment by the Pain specialist.
The Pain Physician will explain to the patient regarding the causes of Pain, source of pain and available treatment options from pharmaceutical or Interventional Pain therapies. Regular follow up appointments to the Pain clinic are then given to review their responses to therapy. The Physician my escalate the doses of analgesic drugs or try more than one treatment option. Some Patients may not respond well to medical therapy and they may be given an option for interventional pain procedure. These are done in the minor operating room as day care cases.
Chronic Pain has Multimodal and Multi-disciplinary dimensions. The Pain physician may request other relevant investigations such as MRI or sometime may decide the patient need to be seen by other specialties example physiotherapy, chiropractor, psychology, rheumatology, neurologist and or surgery.