Chief: Samuel Eric Wilson, MD
Acting Business Manager: Patricia Webb, RN

Services Offered Surgical Health Care Group (SHCG) provides surgical and dental care to veterans living in Southern California. The Surgical HCG provides all phases of care from outpatient to inpatient, including acute, urgent and emergent care. The components of the Surgical HCG are:

Main Clinical Care Areas:

•  Surgical Clinics:  The Surgical Clinics are Surgical HCG outpatient care areas.  These are the main access points to the continuum of care within the Surgical HCG.  The Surgical Clinics consist of ENT, Eye, Orthopedic, Urology/Cysto, and General Surgery/ Vascular.
• Same Day Surgery: Same Day Surgery (SDS) consists of pre-op clinic, SDS  area, and post-anesthesia care unit (PACU).  SDS operates from 5:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday.  SDS provides pre-operative screening, patient education, and post-operative care to patients who have surgical procedures done and who go home on the same day.  The SDS unit also provides pre-operative care to patients who are scheduled to be admitted after their operation.  SDS also provides pre-operative and post-operative care to patients scheduled for minor procedures under IV sedation and local anesthesia.  The SDS average monthly workload is 238±25  pre-op visits and 218±27 procedures or surgeries per month.  The average  SDS patient is 59 years old.  
• Operating Room: The Operating Room provides Peri-operative nursing care 24 hours a day (on a standby call basis for off-tours) to surgical patients. Elective surgeries are scheduled Monday through Friday.
• SICU/Step Down & Inpatient Ward: The Surgical HCG inpatient care consists of 10 surgical intensive care unit (SICU) beds, 5 Step Down beds, and 20 surgical ward beds.The SICU provides continuous observation, physiologic monitoring and treatment of high risk acute post-operative adult patients.The SICU also receives overflow patients from the Combined Critical Care Unit (CCCU) and recovers patients when the PACU is not open.
  The Surgical Step Down unit provides a level of care designed for patient care needs that are greater than what the surgical ward can provide, but less than the SICU level of care. Specialized care in the Surgical Step Down Unit includes antiarrhythmic drug administration, ventilator support and continuous EKG monitoring.
  The Surgical Ward provides care for patients who do not need an SICU or Stepdown level of care but are not ready to go home or an equivalent level of care
• Dental Service: The Dental Service provides dental care to inpatient veterans who have dental emergencies, outpatient veterans who meet the dental eligibility, and veterans in the nursing home care unit (NHCU) for health maintenance purposes. The Dental Service consists of the following dental subspecialties: Endodontics, Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Pathology and Periodontics.
• Anesthesiology Services: The Anesthesiology Service provides clinical care twenty-four hours a day, seven days per week. Anesthesia coverage is provided in the Operating Room, Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), PACU, and the Anesthesia Pain Clinic (2 days a week). Anesthesia coverage is also provided for special procedures such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), interventional radiology, bronchoscopy, lithotripsy and cardioversions. In-house anesthesia cardiopulmonary arrest coverage is also provided.