PATTS at HRRH

I everybody sorry I'm late in posting I actually had my PATTS (Pre-Admission Testing and Teaching) on February with HRRH. My appointment was for 8:00am it was crazy busy in there I didn't even get registered for my appointment till 9:00am. How to  get there depends on if you come in the main entrance or the Emergency Dept entrance. If you come in the main entrance it is down the hall immediately to you left 1 door down the hallway. If you come in through the Emergency entrance you turn to your right just before the triage area which takes you towards the diagnostic imaging dept before you actually go into the x-ray dept turn left and go down till you see the second set of elevators on your left and turn left then turn right and the PATTS clinic should be right there on your left. It sounds a little convoluted but it's actually fairly simple once you do it once. Anyway when I walked in there was people everywhere, they have 3 desks for registering the patients. The desk in the middle id where you register for your PATTS appointment. The desk to the left is for the Cardio/Pulmonary patients only and the desk to the left is for Laboratory and clinic doctor appointments only. I approached the desk after she was finished with the patient that was sitting there and announced who i was and my appointment time. I was asked to have a seat as there were 3 people before me to be registered and she stated she would call my name when it was my turn. I waited for approx 50 minutes, I was then called up by name and registered. I was asked the standard questions, confirm you name, date of birth, address and telephone number, surgeon and procedure being done, name of my family physician. They asked if I had been admitted to any hospital anywhere within the last 12 months, If the answer is Yes you are required to complete a series of swabs to ensure you did not obtain a hospital acquired infection known as MRSA or VRE. The swabs are painless although a little embarrassing for some I'm sure, I was allowed to collect my own swabs the next comments may be TMI for some sorry just trying to be thorough about what to expect. 1 swab is from both your nares (nostrils) and the other is from around your bottom. Again as I said painless it is from the outside not inside the bottom. She advised me of all the people I would need to see during my PATTS appointment and told me to expect to be there a minimum of 2-4 hours. This is for all people having PATTS appointments. (As I was waiting my turn I heard her say it to everyone.) After being registered I was asked to have a seat and advised the nurse would call me when it was my turn. Again I waited for about 50 minutes and then the nurse came out and called my name. She went over all the medical history stuff I had been explaining to everybody for months it may seem repetitive but they just want to be sure the information is correct and that nothing has changed with your medical history. She went over what to expect while in hospital what unit I would be assigned to 5CD and I was given a pamphlet above the unit and how they operate,etc... She went over fall precautions again I was given a pamphlet, she went over the importance of good hand hygiene to prevent infection and again I was given a pamphlet on it. I was also given a pamphlet on the importance of covering up your cough to prevent the spread of infection. I was also given a pamphlet regarding instructions for surgical patients. Once we had gone over all of this she discussed with me my medications in details to confirm all medications, dosages and times taken. They wants to see the actual bottles so they can confirm your medication needs for the hospital pharmacy. Once that was all said and done she asked if I had any questions, once all my questions were answered she directed me to the bathroom to collected the swabs I mentioned before, again it is painless and only if you have been admitted to any hospital within the last 12 months. After all that I was asked to return to the waiting room and await my next appointment. My next appointment was with the lab I had 6 tubes of blood drawn. Again I returned to the waiting room to wait for my next appointment which was for my ECG once done there back to the waiting room. Next appointment was with Anesthesiologist. He went over specific information in my health history that may affect my anesthetic experience during the surgery. He discussed what the job of the anesthesiologist is during my surgery and reassured me that it is their job to be with me the entire time monitoring my condition and adjusting medications and anything else from the moment I'm sedated to awakening. After that I was sent to the x-ray dept to have an ordered chest x-ray. I was given a patient passport at registration and each person I say checked of that i had been seen and my appointments had been completed. Once I was finished all appointments and everybody had signing my patient passport, I returned it to the registration clerk and my PATTS appointment was done. All in all I believe I was there from 8:00am to 1:15pm. I know this post has been very long but hopefully it gives you a detailed idea of what to expect at your PATTS appointment good-luck :-)

Thank you for sharing; I have my PATTS appointment for May 5th and wondering how long I would be there.

Thanks sugar! I just googled this and up came your post!!! I go tomorrow :) Now I know exactly what to expect and I really appreciate your detailed post Thank YOU...hope all is well

Thank you for your post