Lacor Anaesthesia services started 1959, with the onset of surgical services.

The Department of Anaesthesia primarily provides two types of anaesthesia—loco- regional and general.

The Anaesthesia provider focuses on managing vital signs, pain, and distress before, during, and after surgery and monitors sleep/consciousness during surgery. A member of the anaesthesia team is by your side throughout the entire operation to address changes in your blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, oxygen, and sedation levels.

Most of our Anaesthetic providers have additional experience in areas such as paediatric, cardiac anaesthesia, critical care medicine, and chronic pain to provide diverse, customized anaesthesia care during surgery.

The Department of Anaesthesia performs nearly 6000 procedures per year.

Since 2014 there are Defibrillators in key area of hospital and over 40 nurses have trained in primary emergency care this means the hospital can effectively handle most of the emergencies

THE TEAM

The Anaesthesia department comprises of 1 full time anaesthesiologist and one visiting anaesthesiologist, 6 Anaesthetic Officers plus 4 1n training, 1 Tutors in Anaesthesia  plus 2 in training and a team of 5( Nurses and nursing aides).

The objectives of this department are to provide safe and quality anaesthesia and good Emergency services.

OUR SERVICES

We provide:

  • Peri-operative anaesthesia service which includes pre-operative assessment, anaesthesia care of patients during operation in theatre(administration of general and loco- regional for example spinal anaesthesia) and care of patient after first few hours/days  of operation
  • Intensive medicine in our general intensive care unit (ICU) for critical patients which includes but not limited to medical patient (cardiac shock, severe infection in shock, respiratory failure, severe asthma and convulsion), surgical patients ( trauma -head injuries, burns, orthopaedic,  tetanus and post-operative) , obstetric and gynaecological patients (eclampsia, severe bleeding and
  • We are involved in management of pain for both acute pain (mainly pain following operation) and chronic pain (like cancer pain)
  •  Emergency care (handling of major emergencies within the hospital, handling of major emergency incidents outside the hospital, resuscitation of patients within the hospital)
  • Training of anaesthetic officers who provide the bulk of anaesthesia services in the hospital and the country. We also train medical student of Gulu university, and also train the hospital staff in pain management and emergency care
  • We do research and have published some papers mainly through our ICU data

What to expect

After registration, you will be seen for pre-operative assessment by some anaesthetists who will:

  • Discuss your general health and record your medical and surgical history
  • Ask you about any allergies
  • Ask you details about your lifestyle (i.e. smoking, alcohol and exercise)
  • Record your weight and height
  • Check your temperature, pulse and blood pressure
  • Provide you with information on fasting before your surgery

You will also be seen by a doctor who will also assess you further in relation to your fitness for anaesthesia. Following completion of the assessment, you may require further tests, such as:

  • Blood tests
  • Blood tests
  • Tracing for the heart (ECG) or a scan of your heart (ECHO)
  • Swabs for infection control screening

If you have any tests done during your pre-admission assessment, it may be a few days before a decision can be made regarding your suitability for surgery.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to defer your surgery date for a short time in an effort to optimise your health and ensure that you are ready for surgery.

Your date for surgery will be determined by your surgical consultant. Any queries relating to your surgery or your admission date should be discussed with their team.

FUTURE PLANS

If we consider that a single Tetanus patient can consume 42 cylinders of oxygen, in the course of treatment, it has become clear to us that a better way to supply oxygen to our patients is through a line. We are planning a pipeline oxygen project, which would make oxygen freely available in every ward and to have a well equipped ICU. We are also planning to have electronic data base for anaesthesia in theatre and emergency in addition to ICU data base which we currently have. Would like to have a pain free hospital and train more anaesthesia providers (anaesthesiologists and anaesthetic officers)

Services

  • Pre -operation assessment
  • Patient reception in theatre and preparation
  • Administration of general, regional or spinal anaesthesia
  • Post-anaesthetic care
  • ICU
  • Resuscitation
  • Pain Management
  • Training in Emergency care and Anaesthesia