In the table below, you will read in what situations after the surgery you need immediate medical help, which situations are considered urgent, what information you can, among other things, get from a doctor, as well as what information the doctor or nurse can ask you:

What to do if?

Needed immediate medical assistance	Urgent problems	Questions
Go to the nearest Ambulance or call Ambulance	Contact your doctor	Contact a specialist surgeon
Strong chest pain similar to pain before surgery	Weight gain more than 0.5-1 kg daily for 2 days	Instructions at release
Heart rate faster than 150 beats per minute with a lack of air or new irregular beats	Worsening of the feeling of lack of air	Issues related to surgery
Feelings of lack of air that does not disapear during rest	Sharp pain during deep breathing	Wound care
Chills with shaking	Temperature is higher than 38°C twice within 24 hours	Recovery after surgery
Coughing out bright red blood	Permanent bleeding from a cut	What can a doctor or nurse ask you if you call?
Sudden numbness or weakness of arms and legs	Redness of wound, heat upon touch, swelling or discharge from wound	How long have you been having these symptoms?
Sudden strong headache	Skin rash	What medicines are you currently taking?
Unconsciousness	Extreme tiring	When were you released from the hospital?
Strong pain in stomach	Frequent urination, burning on urination, frequent and strong urge to urinate, bloody urine	Related to discharge from the wound: appearance of the discharge, how long does it run, does the discharge improve or worsen, is there any odour?
A new onset of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea	Acute gout	Does a home care nurse come to you?
Clearly bloody stool	Increased ankle swelling or increased pain in the leg

What's the emergency?

Everything we list should be treated as an emergency. If someone close to you or yourself find yourself in one of these situations, first of all, you need to call Ambulance in your city or bring a health-threatend person to the Ambulance:

• The person stopped breathing or the heart stopped beating
• A person suffers from severe chest pain or has difficulty breathing
• There is serious bleeding from any part of the body
• The person was unconscious or is still unconscious
• A person feels drowsiness or weakness on one side of the body and/or has a problem understanding what you are saying
• In other situations where a person suffers from sudden and unbeaable pain, in the event of head injuries, severe allergic reactions, bone injuries or when feeling incapacitated in any way.

 

Still not sure?

If you are still not sure whether the situation is urgent, you need help for something less serious or just want some advice, you can contact us on listed phone numbers, e-mail, ask our doctors on the web site within the “Our team” section or call your family doctor.

Our “BH Heart Center” has at its disposal an Emergency Medical Assistance Service with 24-hour assistance to life-threatened people with cardiovascular problems, regardless of their place of residence, and we are one of the most successful hospitals in the region for helping people in urgent health care .

The transport center of the Center is at your disposal for 24 hours. In the most modern medical vehicles, patients are transported accompanied by professional medical personnel.

In emergency situations, when a life-threatening patient can not receive adequate medical treatment in his city, he is transported by a medical vehicle or helicopter to the “BH Heart Center “.

In this case, our medical staff will immediately take care of the patient in order to avoid life-threatening situation, and contact the commission of the clinical center in the city from which the patient comes, for explanation and preparation of documentation.

In the near future, we will distribute our capacities across the entire country in the form of “satellite centers” that will have the task of quickly accepting urgent cases of heart disease, rapid diagnostics and rapid transport to the Center.

This excellent performance can only be maintained if people use emergency services for the right reasons, and not as an alternative to their treatment in the usual way. Emergency departments are strictly and soley for emergency cases.

In the “BH Heart Center” we take care that your recovery is in the best order and that you are ready to go home as soon as possible, provided you have recovered enough and that you have everything you need to fully recover.

During your stay, the medical assessment team works together to consider your medical needs and your progress in recovery. This means that they can jointly assess that you have been completely cured and that you are ready to go home or that you may need additional care and care outside the hospital, such as:

Ambulatory medical checks

• Intermediary care – assistance from a nurse or professional therapist
• Home treatment equipment
• Family help and care

On the day of a departure home, the patient and his family will be placed in the pleasant surrounding of the daily rooml of our Center, where they will talk with the kind and professional medical personnel about the current state of health and the details to be taken into account.

We will talk to you to make sure that you have all the necessary assistance, equipment and medicines, and give you the opportunity to ask all the questions you have without worry.

With state-of-the-art equipment, the Center uses a specialized hospital software that enables continuous monitoring of a patient from hospital admission to leaving the hospital, and control and care for the patient after a medical treatment. Your medical card will be computer-updated, and then you and our nurse coordinator will agree on the date of the first postsurgery control by a surgeon.

If your doctor has prescribed medicines, you will receive a prescription from your family doctor with which you can get them at a pharmacy.

When you are discharged from the hospital, for your records, please provide your general practitioner with your release letter containing the details of the admission and the reasons for which you came to the hospital, what medical treatment you have gone through, and the details of new or changes to existing medicines.

If you are applying for a sick leave, do not forget to ask for a release certificate to prove your claim.

 

Note:

Upon release from our Center, carefully read the Release Letter and follow the instructions given in the chapter on recommendations and therapy.

Be sure to do control examinations with a specialist doctor who is indicated.

Always bring a release letter to control examinations, findings from all previous control examinations, and findings of doctors of other specialties if they are indicated in the release letter.

For all examinations in our Center you need a referral of your competent doctor.

IN CASE OF ANY HEALTH PROBLEMS, AFTER RELEASE FROM OUR CENTER, YOU'RE FREE TO CONTACT OUR DOCTORS ON DUTY TO THE FOLLOWING NUMBER OF PHONES:

035/309-141; 035/309-225.

 

At home

If you have any further questions about your condition or treatment after you left the hospital, you can always contact us via available phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

If you feel that you can use additional professional support on your return home, contact your general practitioner to provide you with a list of useful caregivers that can help you.

How to behave after surgery, how to treat the wound, what activities are allowed, how to take prescribed medicines, and what are possible side effects can be read in the INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATED PATIENTS.

When you are about to go to the hospital, follow the instructions that you received from our nurses when scheduling hospitalization. This will make sure that you have also included all additional items that are not listed below, for which you were directed to take them with you. Let us remind you:

• Findings and opinion of your cardiologist as well as all medical records you have collected so far regarding the reason for your arrival, if you have not already forwarded it to us.
• Consent of the Health Insurance Fund and general practitioner's referral, if you are treated at the HIF.
• Laboratory findings if this is indicated to you when scheduling the appointment.
• Pyjamas/Nightgown
• Slippers
• Personal toiletries
• Books, magazines or things to help you pass time during  your stay in the BH Heart Center.
• Reading glasses if you need them

Do not forget to take your medicines with you if you are already using medical therapy and if it's indicated that you should not interrupt it before surgery!

You can read more about the preparation of a patient for selective coronarography, left ventriculography and surgery on the following links:

• Preparation for selective coronography
• Preparation for surgery

ON THE ARRIVAL DAY

On the day you come to the hospital, please check in the receipt letter the exact date when you need to report to the hospital.

We advise you to report to the Center 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment. Patients will be admitted to a doctor in the order of scheduled appointments, not on arrival.

If you have a cold or cough and you are not sure if you should come, please call our nurses-coordinators from the receiving departments for additional advice:

• Tel: 035309-108 – Nurse Erna Sejfulović (Cardiology Department)
• Tel: 035309-123 – Nurse Leila Ćorhodžić (Cardiovascular department)

Upon arrival at the BH Heart Center, you will receive more information about the medical staff and procedures involved in your care and hospital stay. The nurses- coordinators will escort you from the reception to the reception infirmary.

Your family or friends can stay with you during your admission to the hospital. If you are a patient in a daily hospital and you are given any form of sedative, we recommend that you arrange your safe transportation to your home or arrange a trip with our transport service at your disposal 24 hours a day. In our medical vehicles and with professional staff you will feel safer.

If you stay longer in the hospital, the nurse will provide your companions with a contact telephone number and the telephone number of the department where you will be located, so that they can get information about your health condition at any time of the day.

Our staff is also available via e-mail beyond working hours, through which nurses respond to asked questions from family members of the patient who is hospitalized.

Upon receipt you will be accomodated in the planned hospital room, you will get breakfast and then the therapy.

The responsible nurse will talk to you to get to know you, relax and alleviate the feeling that you are in the hospital. Inform the nurse if you have any special needs or requirements such as difficulty in movement, hearing or sight impairment, difficult speech or specific cultural and religious needs.

Before you start treatment, your doctor will visit you to check how you feel and to provide necessary details about the medical treatments that await you. If you have any further questions or concerns, talk to your doctor to help you.

The staff of our clinic carry identification tags with the name and occupation label, so you always know who you are talking to. In addition, they wear uniforms of different colors, to make it easier for you to recognize them.

Remember that doctors and other medical staff are there for you, and are available 24 hours a day.

Patient rooms

Each patient has the right to enjoy a quality hospital treatment that guarantees safety and efficacy, and respects his privacy and dignity.

“BH Heart Center” is dedicated to providing high quality services to every patient, which means peace, equipped and separated men's and women's hospital rooms, which contributes to the preservation of privacy and dignity of patients at the moment when they are most sensitive.

We have completely aligned our accommodation capacities with the requirements regarding this issue.

Female and male patients stay in different rooms.

Sharing space with members of the opposite sex will occur exclusively in exceptional situations when this is inevitable based on clinical needs, for example, where patients need specialized equipment in areas of critical concern.

But even in such circumstances, we are trying to reduce any inconvenience.

It is possible that visitors of the opposite sex will enter the room where the patient's bed is, and this may include patients visiting each other. Nurses, doctors and other staff of the male and female sex will enter the patients’ rooms.

 

What does this mean for patients?

• Our patients can expect the following:
• Patients can expect a quiet stay in the hospital, respect for their needs, privacy and dignity
• Professional and friendly staff is available 24 hours a day
• Each room has a bell, which will be used for calling your nurse and doctor at any time of the day or night
• Each room has a separate toilet and a bathroom
• Each room has TV and internet
• In the room where you will be accommodated, only the patients of the same sex will stay with you.
• It is possible that there will be both male and female patients in the department, but they will not share the same bedroom.

If a patient needs help to use a bathroom, a member of the medical staff will be with him, but other patients will not use the bathroom at the same time.

If you experience any problems such as pain, choking, insomnia, use the bell and the doctor and nurses on duty will be with you at the same moment. At the “BH Heart Center”, a patient is not alone, he is always in the safe hands of our medical staff and problems are solved immediately.

If you want to talk to the Director of the Center Dr. Kabil, he will always be available to talk to you.

Nurses will gladly provide you with answers to all your questions, what kind of treatment you are using and why and it is used by the device.

All patients like to be informed, this is your right and our duty.

“BH Heart Center” continuously monitors all areas of trust in order to maintain the desired standard of stay for all patients.

The Center advocates dignified treatment and will continue to provide safe and effective services and to work to ensure that all patients are treated equally, with dignity and respect.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding your hospital accommodation, feel free to contact our staff, and it will be very helpful.

 

Nutrition of hospital patients

For patients who stay overnight and longer, we provide a wide range of catering services that suit your needs.

Our menus are designed to offer a wide range of nutritious meals that will satisfy all your  nutritional needs.

Time of meals is respected, which means that all hospital activities that are not urgent will be suspended for a certain time, so that patients can eat their meals in peace, without interruption, and if necessary – with the support of medical staff.

Food will be available 24 hours a day, as well as hot and cold drinks or chilled, arranged fruit. If you experience hunger or thirst, do not hesitate to call a nurse on duty.

 

Visits

If you are hospitalized in our Center, you can receive visits every working day from 15:00 to 17:00, and on Sundays and holidays from 15:00 to 18:00.

One patient can be visited by two people at the same time with a stay of up to half an hour, or a shorter stay, if recommended by a competent doctor.

You can spend moments of socializing with your family and friends in the pleasant ambience of the visiting room, and depending on the patient's health, visits can also be provided within the department on which he is located.

Visits in some cases may be prohibited by a decision of a competent doctor, in certain cases of infectious diseases, measures of competent state authorities, etc., about which the patient and visitors will be informed.

When it comes to food, a patient can only receive fruit and juices from visitors.

Please follow instructions of the staff, respect staff and other patients, and respect the house rules of the Center. Also, when visiting the BH Heart Center BH, please read the house rules andinstructions in order to inform yourselves about the rights and obligations, not only of patients and visitors, but also of our staff.

 

Get to know the house rules

When are infirmaries open? What is the time of visits? What is the time peiod of visits? Are visits to the departments permitted or just within a daily stay? Can visitors bring food to patients? Other things that are provided in house rules, which are not specified.

 

Infection control

The risk of infection by hospital infection is very low, but about 8% of patients in any hospital in the world at any given time may have staphylococcal infection.

Infection control is one of the key priorities in the “BH Heart Center”. We are among the most successful in the region when it comes to controlling infections, of course, with the engagement and cooperation of staff, patients and visitors.

One of our best weapons to fight infections is to ensure that patients and visitors get their hands washed on entering and leaving hospitals and departments.

The hand washing is insisted because antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise. In order for the patients at the hospital to be safe, we all have to look after the hygiene, regularly wash our hands and use antibacterial soaps.