Surgical Guidelines

The Surgical Guidelines are a practical document to support you and healthcare professionals. It explains what level of extra medication and monitoring you will need in the event of most types of surgery.

For steroid-dependent inpatients, strict adherence to steroid medication regime is vital to recovery and a safe inpatient experience.

If you are having elective surgery in hospital, we recommend that you give a copy of the Surgical Guidelines to your surgeon and anaesthetist before your surgery date. It is also best to take the Surgical Guidelines with you when you go into hospital and discuss them with your nursing staff.

Download: printer friendly version (Opens in new window 644kb)

Printing advice: Set your printer to A4, landscape, double-sided, flip on the short edge. Printer friendly version includes new accessibility improvements to support people with visual impairments.

You can order the ADSHG’s hospital folder (containing drugs chart stickers and other medical information). If you have a hospital admission coming up, check out our 'Preparing for hospital admission when you have Addison's Disease or Adrenal Insufficiency' article for more tips and resources to support you.

Dental procedures

If you are looking for further information on extra steroid cover for certain dental procedures, you can get this information from our dedicated webpage for dentists.

Supporting the Guidance

Addison’s Disease Self Help Group compiled the guidance with the support of The ADSHG Clinical Advisory Panel (CAP). In particular we would like to thank:

Chair of CAP Professor John Wass, MA, MD, FRCP. Professor of Endocrinology at Oxford University.
Dr Helen Simpson, FRCP, PhD. Consultant Endocrinologist, UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and member of the RCP Patient Safety Committee being senior clinical advisor for the Steroid Emergency Card.
Professor Simon Pearce, MD, FRCP. Professor of Endocrinology at Newcastle University and co-author of "Living with Addison's Disease – A Guide For People With Addison's, Supporters and Professionals".

Download: printer friendly version (Opens in new window 644kb)

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Surgical Guidelines

The ADSHG surgical guidelines are intended for the information of your medical team or your dentist and have been developed by our Clinical Advisory Panel.

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The Surgical Guidelines are a practical document to support you and healthcare professionals. It explains what level of extra medication and monitoring you will need in the event of most types of surgery.

Dental procedures

Supporting the Guidance

More Questions?