简体中文
EnglishWhere Patients and Families Find Surgery Preparation and Recovery Information on the ACS Website
Updated
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) website, facs.org, has a dedicated For Patients section with two main resources: Information for Patients and Family, Preparing for Your Surgery, and Recovering from Your Surgery. These pages are written for patients and caregivers rather than surgeons, and they cover what to expect and what to pay attention to before and after an operation. The site is best used as general patient education; it does not replace instructions from your own surgical team.
Where to Look on the Site
The patient-facing content sits under the For Patients menu in the site's main navigation. The menu lists:
- Information for Patients and Family — general guidance for patients and caregivers
- Preparing for Your Surgery — what to review and plan before an operation
- Recovering from Your Surgery — what to expect and watch for during recovery
If the menu is not visible, use the site search and enter terms such as "preparing for your surgery" or "recovering from your surgery." The site also offers a Find a Surgeon search, which is separate from the patient education pages.
A Note on Browser Compatibility
The ACS site states it is not compatible with Internet Explorer 11. If pages look broken or menus do not open, switch to a current browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari before trying again.
How to Use the Pages
- Start with Information for Patients and Family to get oriented to the site's patient resources and the topics it covers.
- Open Preparing for Your Surgery before your procedure date. Use it to build a list of questions for your surgeon or care team — for example, what to arrange at home, what to bring, and who to contact with last-minute questions.
- Open Recovering for Your Surgery after the operation and keep it handy during the first weeks at home. Use it to note symptoms or situations you want to raise with your care team.
- Verify anything specific to your case with your own surgical team. The ACS pages are general education; your surgeon's instructions, your hospital's paperwork, and your discharge materials take precedence.
What to Expect — and What Not To
| What the pages are good for | What they are not |
|---|---|
| General orientation to surgery preparation and recovery topics | Personalized medical advice for your condition |
| Prompts for questions to ask your surgeon | A substitute for your discharge instructions |
| A starting point for caregivers helping a patient | Scheduling, billing, or insurance answers |
Common Sticking Points
- Menu confusion: The site's navigation is large and mixes member, surgeon, and patient content. Stay within the For Patients group so you do not end up on clinical or membership pages.
- Old browser: As noted above, IE 11 is not supported; a broken layout is usually a browser issue, not a missing page.
- Looking for a specific surgeon or hospital: Use the separate Find a Surgeon and Find a Hospital tools rather than the patient education pages.
- Expecting case-specific instructions: The ACS pages explain general preparation and recovery; they do not tell you when to stop eating before your particular operation or which medications to pause. Those answers come from your surgical team.
Bottom Line
For general, plain-language guidance on getting ready for surgery and recovering afterward, go to the For Patients section of facs.org and read Preparing for Your Surgery and Recovering from Your Surgery, alongside Information for Patients and Family. Treat the material as a question-building and orientation tool, and confirm every case-specific detail with your own surgeon and hospital.