At Acibadem, How Medication Lists Are Checked Before Surgery

The tablets in your bathroom cabinet matter for an operation in another country. Before any procedure, your medication list is reviewed so your care team can plan around your prescriptions, vitamins, supplements, allergies and any recent changes to your treatment.

This guide explains how medication lists are checked before surgery at Acibadem: what happens at each stage, which medicines attract closer attention, what instructions you can expect, and how to prepare so nothing is missed. It is written for international patients who arrive with medicines bought under different brand names, in different packaging, from different countries.

Why medication lists are checked before surgery

A medication list is not paperwork for its own sake. It tells your team what you take every day, what you use occasionally, and what could interact with anaesthesia, affect bleeding, blood pressure or blood sugar, or complicate pain control after the operation. Products that seem trivial at home — a herbal sleep aid, an occasional anti-inflammatory tablet, a protein supplement — can change how a surgical plan is written.

For international patients there is an extra layer. The same active ingredient is sold under different trade names in different countries, and packaging rarely translates itself. Understanding how medication lists are checked before surgery helps you see why the team asks for detail: they need to identify active ingredients, avoid accidental duplication, and decide whether anything should be continued, paused or retimed around your procedure.

Early disclosure also prevents last-minute problems. If the team knows before you travel that you use blood thinners, insulin, steroid tablets or regular heart medication, they can build the timing into your plan rather than adjusting it at the hospital door. That makes your admission day calmer and your instructions clearer.

What to include on your medication list

The most useful list is complete, current and written in plain language. You do not need medical wording. Include every prescription medicine, plus over-the-counter products, inhalers, eye drops, creams, patches, injections, vitamins and herbal items. If you take something only when needed, list it anyway and say how often that tends to be.

For each item, note the brand or generic name, the strength, how often you take it, why you take it, and when you last took it. If you recently stopped a medicine or changed a dose, write that down clearly — recent changes are exactly the kind of detail that matters most in the weeks before an operation.

If spellings or strengths are hard to pin down, photographs solve most of the problem. Photograph the label, the box and any recent prescription. Where practical, carry the original packaging in your hand luggage so the team can verify the active ingredient during your pre-operative review. Our separate medication and supplement safety checklist walks through this preparation item by item.

• Prescription medicines from your home doctor
• Over-the-counter pain relievers, cold remedies and antacids
• Supplements such as fish oil, iron, magnesium or probiotics
• Herbal products and teas used for sleep, stress or digestion
• Bodybuilding, weight-loss or energy products, even if used occasionally
• Drug allergies and past reactions, including reactions to anaesthesia or contrast dye
• Any medication change within the last few weeks

How the review works at Acibadem, stage by stage

Knowing how medication lists are checked before surgery makes each stage easier to follow. The check usually starts before you arrive in Turkey. During treatment planning, the international patient team asks for your current medicine list alongside your medical documents, so the clinical team can flag anything that needs closer review. This early step matters most if you are travelling for a complex procedure — for example in cardiovascular surgery or bariatric and metabolic surgery — or if you take several long-term medications.

Closer to the operation, the list is reviewed again at your pre-operative assessment. Depending on your case, this involves your surgeon, the anaesthesiology team, nurses and, where needed, other specialists such as a cardiologist or endocrinologist. The aim is threefold: confirm exactly what you take now, decide whether the timing of any medicine needs to change, and judge whether extra tests or precautions are advisable before anaesthesia.

Expect to answer the same medication questions more than once. This is deliberate. Reconfirming your medicines at planning, at assessment and again at admission is a recognised safety practice — it catches updates, closes gaps and makes sure everyone is working from the same information on the day of surgery. If a nurse asks a question your surgeon already asked, that repetition is the system working, not a sign of disorganisation.

Language support runs through the whole process. Interpreters and international patient coordinators help when medicine names are unfamiliar or hard to translate, because a small misunderstanding about a dose or an active ingredient can affect the plan.

Medicines that often need special attention

Some medicines are more likely to need a detailed plan before an operation. Being on the list below does not mean a medicine must be stopped — it means the team will want to set clear, written timing for it.

• Blood thinners and anti-platelet medicines, because they affect bleeding during and after surgery
• Diabetes medicines, including insulin, because fasting changes how they behave
• Steroid tablets and immune-suppressing drugs, which can affect healing and the body’s response to stress
• Blood pressure and heart rhythm medicines, some of which are usually continued and some retimed
• Seizure medicines, where consistent timing matters
• Regular opioid pain medicines, which shape the anaesthetic and pain-relief plan

Supplements and herbal products deserve equal honesty. Many patients do not think of them as medicines, yet some can influence bleeding, sedation, blood pressure or how other drugs are processed. Sleep products, weight-loss aids and energy boosters should all be disclosed, even if you use them rarely.

Devices and emergency medicines belong on the list too: inhalers, CPAP machines, insulin pens, patches, injectables and adrenaline auto-injectors. So does any past reaction to anaesthesia, antibiotics, pain medication or contrast dye. The more complete the picture, the fewer assumptions the team has to make.

What you may be told after the review

Once the list is checked, you will receive instructions specific to you. Broadly, they fall into three groups: continue as usual, pause for a defined period, or take at a different time — sometimes with a small sip of water on the morning of surgery. Which medicines fall into which group depends on your procedure, your health history and your anaesthetic plan, so do not borrow instructions from friends, forums or a previous operation. What was right then may be wrong now.

You will also receive guidance on eating and drinking before anaesthesia, which interacts with medication timing. If your surgery time changes, it is reasonable to ask whether your medication timing should change with it. Ask for the instructions in writing, or through the interpreter, so you can follow them accurately from your hotel. Our guide to questions to ask before surgery includes the medication questions worth raising at your assessment.

Common questions about the pre-surgery check

What is the 2-4-6 rule for anaesthesia?

The 2-4-6 rule is a general fasting framework used in many hospitals worldwide: clear fluids may typically be allowed up to two hours before anaesthesia, breast milk up to four hours, and food, milk and other drinks up to six hours. It is a starting point, not personal advice — your own written fasting instructions always take priority, because procedures and patients differ. Our guide to fasting before surgery in Turkey explains how food, drink and medication rules fit together.

What medications are given right before surgery?

This varies with the procedure and the anaesthetic plan. Commonly, teams may use a calming pre-medication, antibiotics given according to surgical protocol, anti-sickness medicine, and — where the anaesthesiology team approves — some of your own regular medicines taken with a small sip of water. The anaesthesiologist decides case by case, which is one reason the medication list is confirmed again on the morning of surgery.

What can make someone unfit for surgery?

There is no single rule. Fitness for surgery is judged individually, weighing factors such as poorly controlled chronic conditions, active infection, recent illness, anaesthetic risk and recent medication changes against the urgency and nature of the operation. Often the outcome is not cancellation but optimisation: a procedure is postponed while a condition is brought under better control, then rescheduled.

When is a urine sample needed before surgery?

Usually at the pre-operative assessment, if it is needed at all. A urine sample can be used to check for infection, to look at kidney-related markers, or as a pregnancy test where that is relevant to anaesthesia and imaging. Your team will tell you at the assessment whether one is required for your procedure.

How you can make the process easier

Once you understand how medication lists are checked before surgery, preparation becomes straightforward. Prepare one up-to-date list before you travel and keep it with you: a copy on your phone and, ideally, a printed copy in your hospital folder. Add your allergy history, your regular pharmacy or prescribing doctor, and any recent hospital stays connected to medication changes.

Avoid unplanned medication changes on your own in the run-up to surgery unless a doctor has advised them. If another clinician changes your treatment after you have shared your list, update your coordinator promptly — this matters most for antibiotics, blood thinners, diabetes treatments and steroids.

Pack enough of your routine medicines for the trip plus a buffer for delays, keep them in original packaging where possible, and carry essential medicines in hand luggage rather than checked baggage. If you use insulin pens, inhalers or CPAP equipment, keep them accessible and mention them at your review. Planning your arrival with enough time for the pre-operative assessment also helps; our arrival timing guide explains how the assessment fits into a typical trip.