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Theatre Adding a Surgery

Dr M H B Ariyaratne edited this page May 22, 2026 · 1 revision

Theatre — Adding a Surgery to an Inpatient

Overview

Adding a surgery records a surgical procedure against an admitted patient's BHT (Bed Head Ticket). This creates the master surgery bill that all subsequent theatre charges — services, medicines, timed services, and professional fees — are linked to. A patient must already be admitted before a surgery can be added.

When to Use

  • A patient is admitted and scheduled for a surgical procedure
  • Returning a patient to theatre for a second procedure on the same admission
  • Recording an emergency procedure performed on an admitted patient

Required Privilege

TheatreAddSurgery

Navigating to Add Surgery

From the Theatre menu:

  1. Click Theatre in the main menu
  2. Click Add Surgeries
  3. The Add Surgery page opens with a patient search field

From the Inpatient Dashboard (Admission Profile):

  1. Open the patient's admission profile
  2. Click the Theatre or Add Surgery button — the page opens with the patient pre-selected

Step-by-Step: Adding a Surgery

Step 1 — Select the Patient

  1. In the Patient Name or BHT search field, type the patient's name or BHT number
  2. Select the correct patient from the dropdown results — the patient's admission details appear on the left panel
  3. Verify the BHT number, room, and admission status shown

Step 2 — Select the Surgery (Procedure)

  1. Click in the Surgery Name field
  2. Type part of the procedure name (e.g., "append" for Appendicectomy)
  3. Select the correct procedure from the autocomplete list

Important: You must select the surgery from the list — free-text entry is not accepted. If the procedure is not in the list, contact your administrator to add it to the surgery catalogue.

Step 3 — Save the Surgery

  1. Click Add New Surgery (green button)
  2. The system checks for duplicates before saving

If the same surgery already exists on this BHT:

  • A warning dialog appears: "This surgery has already been added to this patient. Do you want to add it again?"
  • Click Yes, Add Duplicate to confirm, or Cancel to go back
  • Duplicate surgeries are only permitted in specific clinical situations (e.g., bilateral procedures)

On successful save:

  • The Surgery Workbench opens automatically for the newly created surgery
  • A surgery bill is generated and linked to the BHT
  • You can now add services, medicines, timed services, and professional fees

Understanding Messages

Success

  • The Surgery Workbench opens — the surgery has been saved successfully

Warning

  • "This surgery has already been added" — A surgery with the same procedure name already exists on this BHT. Confirm only if clinically justified.

Error Messages

  • "Please select an admission" — A patient/BHT must be selected before saving
  • "Please select a surgery type" — A procedure must be selected from the autocomplete
  • "This admission has already been finalised" — The patient's bill has been settled and no new surgery can be added. Contact the billing supervisor.

After Adding the Surgery

Once saved, you will be taken to the Surgery Workbench where you can:

  • Add theatre services and investigations
  • Record timed services (OT time, ventilator time)
  • Issue medicines from pharmacy
  • Add professional fees (surgeon, assistant, anaesthetist)
  • Record clinical details and operative notes

See Surgery Workbench for the next steps.

Viewing and Deleting Surgeries

To see all surgeries for a patient's admission:

  1. Go to TheatreSearch → select the patient
  2. Or from the Surgery Workbench, navigate to the surgery list

To delete a surgery:

  • A surgery can only be deleted if no child bills (services, pharmacy, professional fees) have been created for it
  • If child bills exist, they must be cancelled first before the surgery can be deleted
  • Click the Delete button next to the surgery in the list and confirm

Best Practices

  • Always verify the patient's BHT and room before saving — the surgery is linked to the current admission
  • Select the exact procedure name from the catalogue to ensure correct reporting and fee calculation
  • Do not add duplicate surgeries unless the clinical situation genuinely requires it

Related Features

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