About MCH Surgery

MCH surgery teams perform 1,800 surgeries a year in the following areas:

• Orthopedics
• General
• Plastics
• Ob/gyn
• Podietry
• Ear nose & throat

We maintain state of the art laproscopic and arthroscopic imaging equipment, used both for diagnostics and during surgery, and provide:

• General Surgery Unit, 4 operating room suites with recovery rooms
• Post Anesthesia Care Unit/ Recovery Room, 6 beds
• Medical Surgical Nursing Unit, 40 beds with telemetry with 8 private rooms
• Intensive/Cardiac/Surgical Care Unit, 6 beds

Unlike most small hospitals, MCH also performs total hip and total knee replacements, as well as some high surgeries. We provide:

• Upper endoscopies
• Colonoscopies
• Bronchospocies
• Esophogeal motility studies
• ECTs - electroconvulsive therapy
• Trans esophegeal electrocardiograms
• Blood transfusions
• Iron infusions
• Tilt tables
• Heart catheterizations in conjunction with with Saint Vincent Health System

Why you want to consider MCH

MCH offers a number of advantages for your surgery:

• We maintain smaller Operating and Emergency departments, so you have less waiting time and receive more personal and specialized attention.
• Our role as a teaching hospital, our orthopedic and psychiatric residency programs, and our relationship with LECOM, and the accessibility of psychiatric create advantages for our patients of excellent staff to patient ratios and accessible consultations.
• In most hospitals, when a doctor requests a consultation, the specialist is required to answer within 24 hours. At MCH, consults can occur within 10 minutes.
• You can recover at your own pace. We don't force our patients to leave immediately. If your surgeon determines it necessary to deal with pain issues, we can keep you for 23-hour observation.
• The fall rate of our patients is lower than at any other local hospital, and we believe our infection rates are lower than at other hospitals.
• Parking is customer-friendly, free, and close to the entrance.Handicapped parking is truly next to the entrance, not across streets or on upper levels.
• Thanks to our excellent housekeeping team, our facility is very clean.
• Our Intensive Care Unit provides a state of art patient monitoring system, and larger than average ICU rooms. Uniquely, 4 rooms have their own bathrooms.

What to know

We provide inpatient and outpatient surgeries in the same facilities.

• Surgeries are available Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4 pm.
• The outpatient surgery area is open from 6:30 am to 7 pm.
• We have a surgical team on call 24/7.

Your surgeon will provide you with detailed information about your surgery.

Most of our surgery patients come into MCH one week prior to surgery to our Pre-operation testing area. Their surgeon's office will schedule the date. If your surgeon requests this, we will be able to:

• Complete any necessary blood work, chest x-rays, EKGs, and verify paperwork

• Give specific instructions about
  • What to eat prior to your surgery
  • What clothing to wear and bring
  • Which medications to take
  • How long you will be here

• If you have visited our Pre-op testing area, you can by-pass Admissions on the day of your surgery. Simply come in the main entrance and you will be directed to the OR.

Call the Surgery department main number, 814-868-8204 the day before your surgery to learn your scheduled arrival time, which is generally 1 to 2 hours in advance of your scheduled surgery.

If your surgeon has not scheduled you for our Pre-op testing area:

• When you call for your arrival time, the nurse will provide you with any relevant food, clothing, medication or other instructions in preparation for surgery.

• On your day of surgery, please enter through the Emergency entrance for Admissions

Pre-operative teaching is undertaken by the surgeon, Anesthesiologist and Nursing.

A family waiting room is located directly outside the unit doors. Immediate family visitation is liberal, but is based on client diagnoses and treatment needs.

Following surgery, each patient is taken to the recovery room for a minimum of 30 minutes. Once the patient is stable, he/she is returned to the original room to recover until ready to go home. Once patients meet any criteria established by their surgeon plus basic discharge criteria (pain is under control, they are able to void, have a ride, have all questions answered), the nurse in charge will discharge the patient.

If you experience a problem after discharge, call your surgeon or if the issues is extreme, come to the MCH ER.