Dear Colleagues,

The following pages provide information about organizational procedures in our department. We hope this will help streamline the care and follow-up treatment of our shared patients.

Outpatient Appointments (Special Consultation Hours)

• Appointments can be scheduled at the outpatient clinic by calling 0391/67-21412 or -21405.
• Please bring a special referral form from an internist (e.g., cardiologist, nephrologist), neurologist, angiologist, or practicing vascular surgeon.
• In urgent cases, you may contact a colleague at any time to discuss the immediate presentation of the patient. (See phone numbers on the right)
• For outpatient visits, it is important that you provide us with any findings that have already been collected. If imaging diagnostics have already been performed, we ask that you provide the patient not only with the examination findings but also with the images (paper printout, film, CD).
• We would appreciate a current list of the patient’s medications. Please provide your patients with a current standardized national medication plan (BMP) featuring an electronically scannable 2D Data Matrix barcode (in accordance with the guidelines of Appendix 3 to the Agreement pursuant to Section 31a(4) Sentence 1 of SGB V).
• For patients who cannot be transported or for second opinions, it is also possible at any time to submit X-ray images alone, following prior consultation by telephone.

Inpatient Admission

To ensure that the planned treatment can be carried out without any problems, here is some information:

• The patient will be notified of the admission date in an invitation sent via our clinic or by phone.
• If you are unable to attend, please cancel in a timely manner.

• A referral form is required for inpatient admission

• Please note the following instructions regarding the administration or suspension of medications:
  • Biguanide-type oral antidiabetics: Metformin (e.g., Siofor, Glucophage, etc.) 48 hours prior to the scheduled admission
  • oral anticoagulants (Falithrom, etc.) and, if necessary, switch to low-molecular-weight heparin; medication with 100 mg of ASA or clopidogrel may be continued.

• The prescription will be communicated to the patient in writing on the invitation.

• Premedication is often administered prior to inpatient admission; for this, depending on the planned procedure and the patient’s medical history, we require an outpatient cardiological risk assessment and clearance (e.g., current cardiac catheterization findings, echocardiogram, ECG, pulmonary function test, etc.)
• Please provide relevant findings; in particular, for repeat procedures, please provide previous surgical reports and physician letters if these were not performed at our clinic.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Your Vascular Surgery Team</