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 A busy day of surgery is scheduled at the six-OR surgery center. The ASC's practice is to admit patients into a common pre-operative area, placing patients on stretchers in the order in which they're processed through admitting. Once patients change into a gown and move onto a stretcher, a perioperative nurse ascertains that the chart is complete, starts an intravenous line and answers any questions the patient might have. Then a member of the anesthesia team interviews the patient and the surgeon pays a quick visit. When the room is ready, a dedicated transporter brings the patient to the OR. A 57-year-old woman is scheduled to undergo a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The nurse anesthetist assigned to the room interviews the patient in the pre-op area, determines that the consent is in order, reviews the pre-op labs and ECG, and, after explaining the procedure, asks the patient to sign a consent for general anesthesia (see "When is Consent Truly Informed?" on page 20).
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