The day-patient surgery department

After the completion of the construction of block C, all surgical operations were brought together in the Mustamäe medical campus. The surgery block in block X with its eighteen operating rooms forms a coherent whole with the five operating rooms and the day-patient surgery department which were opened in block C. There is a modern environment for day-patient surgery – the department has five operating rooms, a reception and waiting room for the patients, as well as twenty beds and six comfortable chairs for post-surgery recovery.

The following scheduled day-patient surgeries are performed in the day-patient surgery block:

• neurosurgery (incl. carpal tunnel surgeries)
• otorhinolaryngology (e.g. removal of tonsils; deviated nasal septum surgeries)
• orthopaedics (e.g. arthroscopic knee and ankle joint surgeries; hallux valgus surgeries; removal of implants)
• head and neck surgeries (e.g. surgeries on benign and malignant skin neoplasms; laser coagulation tumour removal surgeries)
• maxillofacial surgery (e.g. surgeries on benign and malignant skin neoplasms)
• urology (e.g. vasectomies, circumcisions)
• general surgery (e.g. surgeries on the gallbladder, varicose veins, hernia, and skin neoplasms)
• gynaecology (e.g. sterilisation, abrasion)
• breast surgeries (e.g. mammary gland resection)

Scheduled day-patient surgeries are performed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on working days, with up to forty surgeries per day performed, on average. Patients are operated on in five operating rooms, of which four are used for surgeries under general anaesthesia, and one for surgeries under local anaesthesia. A surgery may last from fifteen minutes to up to two hours, depending on the speciality and on the complexity of the surgery.

The department boasts a recovery room with modern furnishings and everything required to ensure high-quality medical monitoring of the patient. The department has twenty beds and six comfortable chairs, in total, for the patients to recover after surgeries. When the patients have recovered and no longer require medical monitoring, they are allowed to go home with a support person.

If a patient requires longer in-patient monitoring than can be provided by the operating mode of the department, they will be referred to one of the in-patient care departments of the hospital depending on the surgery performed.

The surgeons and anaesthesiologists are supported in the operating rooms by anaesthesiology nurses, surgical nurses, technicians, carers, the chief of nursing, and the coordinator of nursing, who also take care of the post-surgical monitoring of the patients. The personnel of the department consists of the chief of nursing, the nurses of the department, carers, two secretaries, and the housekeeper.