In terms of the location of the surgery, ask him about the actual space. Is it an operating room that’s attached to the clinic? Is it a free-standing operating room or is it in a hospital? There are advantages and disadvantages to all those options, but it’s really important to get the sense of where the surgery will be performed, when that facility was built, if it’s accredited, [and] if it gets inspected regularly.
Ask him for a tour. Most of us, if we have an operating room, we’re really happy to show patients the space and take them through it so that they can see before their procedure is performed.
I think just as important is the staff, who’s going to be helping the surgeon with the surgery, both the anesthesiology staff and the nursing staff. Usually the anesthetics is performed either by a board-certified anesthesiologist or the physician or a nurse anesthetist.
Now, you can have a great result with either approach, I think what really is important to ask is about the experience of that individual. Do they take care of plastic surgery patients regularly? Also the staff – [are they] going to be helping the doctor and the nursing staff? [Is] this the staff or folks that work with the doctor on a routine basis or is it a staff that maybe isn’t as experienced with plastic surgery and just does it from time to time?
These are really important things to ask your doctor and is very important also for your safety and to make sure that you have a really good experience during the procedure.
