You have been booked in for your procedure and need to complete the paperwork and make your preparations.

Firstly, you will receive a notification indicating the booking and hospital location/s via text and email.

There are 7 important parts you need to complete where required.

1. Your hospital preadmission

2. Consent & procedure information

3. Fees

4. Pre-admissions

5. Clinical information for the nurse

6. On the day

7. Follow up

PART 1 - YOUR HOSPITAL PREADMISSION

You will be booked into one of two hospital locations that MetroPain operate from.

Note that you must complete the pre-admissions paperwork to ensure all information is with the hospital prior to the day.

Depending on which hospital you’ve been informed your treatment has been booked at, use the links the following links to your respective hospital’s preadmission system to complete your details well prior to your admission.

If you do not have access to the internet, or would prefer to fill out hard-copy forms, please call your respective Hospital on one of the numbers above and they can arrange to send you hard-copy forms, though please ensure you do this well in advance to ensure the staff at the Hospital have time to send your paperwork to you and there is enough time to return your paperwork via post (nothing that this will likely be a two-week round-trip unless you use Express Post).

PART 2 - CONSENT & PROCEDURE INFORMATION

Your Informed Financial Consent (IFC) will be explained and provided to you at the time of booking your procedure when booking in person in rooms. If your procedure is booked over the phone your Informed Financial Consent will be sent to you via email, which you will need to sign sign and return to the team ASAP via email to admin@metropain.com.au.

Please ensure read the relevant pre & post operation information on the Factsheets section.

• Sedation: Please carefully read the information on sedation

• Spinal cord stimulation – If your procedure is for a Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS), then please click here

• Spinal cord stimulator trial diary – PRINT & Complete click here

• Interstate accommodation recommendations – If you are travelling from interstate, following is a link of recommendations for nearby accommodation that may be suitable to your needs.

Local Accommodation

Please note: MetroPain have no direct affiliation with these recommended organisations, with any accommodation bookings needing to be made separately to your procedure should you, your carer team or family members travelling with you require accommodation.

PART 3 - FEES

Each admission will have three separate invoices, as follows:

1. The Doctor’s Fees

2. The Anaesthetic Fees (not applicable for unsedated procedures)

3. The Hospital Fees and Radiology Fees

Privately Insured Procedures

For all privately insured procedures, you will be provided with an Informed Financial Consent (IFC) explaining the out of pocket / known GAP fees (usually $500) from the Doctor and Anaesthetist, so please ensure you read this carefully.

The hospital will charge the private hospital fund excess (if applicable) at the time of admission. In some cases, there may be separate radiology fees charged by the hospital.

Uninsured Procedures

For uninsured procedures, a quote/fee estimate will be provided to you via email from all three parties separately.

WorkCover, TAC & DVA (White card)

For all Work Cover, TAC and WHITE DVA procedures, you will require written approval for your procedure before it will be scheduled.

DVA Gold Card holders are fully covered.

For further information regarding fees, please contact us so you have a good understanding of any associated costs with your procedure.

PART 4 - PRE-ADMISSIONS

Your exact admission time will be sent to you via sms to your mobile phone THE DAY BEFORE your scheduled procedure.

Typically the following schedule will apply:

1. Morning List (arrival between 7 and 11:30 am)

2. Afternoon List (arrival between 12 and 3:30 pm)

For overnight stays:

Please bring an overnight bag with essential medications and their packaging. You will be discharged at approximately 9:30 am.

FASTING: If your procedure is sedated, then fasting is required

If you have been told to fast, you MUST stop eating 6 hours prior to the procedure. Sips of water and normal medication are accepted, No food, Cigarettes or Gum.

More information can be found here.

PART 5 - CLINICAL INFORMATION FOR THE NURSE

If you answer YES to any of the below questions, please alert our team immediately by calling 03 9854 4000.

It is very important and CRITICAL that we know about these to ensure your safety and well-being during your procedure.

Q1. Are you on blood thinners?

For nearly every procedure we undertake these will need to be stopped prior, However, this needs to be done safely. We will work with you to contact the doctor (e.g. your Cardiologist, GP or Haematologist) prescribing your blood thinner, to confirm it is safe to cease.

By way of guidance, blood thinning medication is to be ceased as follows:

• Xarelto is ceased 3 days beforehand

• Eliquis 3 to 5 days,

• Pradaxa, Brillinta or Warfarin – 5 days beforehand

• Plavix, 7 days beforehand.

Your treating specialist, cardiologist or GP most likely will need to be notified and agree.

Aspirin – low dose can normally be continued ** but check with the clinical team.

Q2. Are you a diabetic?

Are a Type 2 diabetic – Are you taking an SGLT2 inhibitor?

These are commonly named Jardiance, Jardiamet, Glyxamb, Forxiga, Qtern or Xigduo XR,

**They must be stopped 3 days prior to any sedation anaesthetic.

Q3. Do you have life-threatening allergies?

We require knowledge of whether you have any life-threatening allergies, and more particularly to things that we commonly use in procedures, e.g. skin preps like chlorhexidine, betadine, or to local anaesthetics, cortisones, analgesics, antibiotics and dressings or bandaids/elastoplast.

Q4. Is your weight over 130 kg?

This may influence which facilities we can admit you to, based on the equipment available and safety considerations.

Q5. Do you suffer from reflux?

If yes, please take reflux medications in days prior to the procedures (e.g Nexium)

Q6. Are you a terrible snorer &/or use CPAP?

This may influence the procedure room we choose based on additional equipment (such as Optiflow).

PART 6 - ON THE DAY

Please DO NOT bring any valuables to the hospital. DO NOT wear jewelry, makeup or nail polish. Please shower on the morning of the procedure and wear clean, comfortable clothing that is easy to remove.

Please understand coming into a hospital is quite a process with many accreditations and other requirements to be met. It often seems repetitive and time-consuming – you may wait longer than expected to go into the operating room. We apologise in advance for these nuisances.

If you are departing on the day, you will wake up post-procedure with a highly attentive and caring nurse and progress to a comfortable chair for a drink.

You will have multiple observations taken before you can leave (discharged) with your chosen adult carer, to ensure your safety.

Please note, for all sedated procedures, it is hospital policy that you cannot be discharged alone. You MUST be accompanied home by a friend or family member and under no circumstances can you drive!

PART 7 - FOLLOW UP

POST-OPERATION APPOINTMENTS

Post-operation reviews are usually conducted via a telephone review and are generally scheduled at the time of procedure booking. Dates and times of these follow-ups are normally emailed to you with your procedure confirmation and booking details.

Depending on your procedure, your post-operatiion review may be a few days, or possibly two, four, six or eight weeks after your procedure.

If you were given a pain diary or pain chart at the hospital upon discharge to complete (which are required for all diagnostic block procedures), please ensure you email the completed document to the following email address prior to your scheduled post-op review appointment:

pain@metropain.com.au

The results of your procedure will be discussed at the post-operation review and further appointments or procedures scheduled as required.

SPINAL CORD STIMULATION REVIEWS & PROGRAMMING

If you are having a Spinal Cord Stimulator Trial or Implant, please Click here to read about Spinal Cord Stimulation. You will have these follow-up appointments

• 1-week review for wound check and programming

• 4 or 6-week review and programming

• 12-week review and programming

• 6-month review and programming

• 12-month review and programming