Ambulatory Care
When you experience a medical emergency, you need quality, compassionate care you can rely on. Count on the Ambulatory Care Unit (ACU) at Halifax Regional Medical Center to deliver that level of care.
The ACU is a 16-bed outpatient services department located on the Medical Center’s first floor that is responsible for preparing patients for same-day surgery. Blood patches are also performed in ACU.
Patients will be scheduled for a pre-op visit several days prior to surgery. You will see a nurse who will collect their history and medication lists, as well as answer any questions you may have. You may also need to have lab work drawn, EKG or chest X-ray if your physicians orders these tests. This will all be done on your pre-op visit.
A typical visit to ACU on the day of surgery will begin at Outpatient Registration and then ACU, where patients are weighed and assigned a room. An ACU nurse will prepare the patient for surgery and provide preoperative and postoperative instructions. Patients having same-day surgery return to the ACU for postoperative monitoring and recovery before being discharged.
Patients are referred to the ACU by their physicians.
The ACU is open from 5:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.