A
sip of coffee and a bite of rye toast.
That's all the man in the photo wants
before he rides to the surgery center
for his knee arthroscopy. But you've sentenced him to a
long and uncomfortable fast, giving him strict instruc-
tions not to eat or drink anything after midnight, even though his
surgery's not until 11 a.m., and even though evidence points to the
dangers of prolonged fasting and
the benefits of pre-operative
nutrition.
4 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 6
Is Prolonged Fasting
Harming Your Patients?
Our survey found that most surgical facilities routinely
instruct patients to fast for excessively long pre-op periods.
Dan O'Connor
Editor-in-Chief
• WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT MIDNIGHT? More than half of the surgical facility leaders we surveyed instruct their
patients to totally fast from midnight before the day of surgery — no matter the actual time of the scheduled procedure.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
