Medical procedure welcome before finding work (3-11)

'medical procedure' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'welcome before finding work' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'welcome' could be 'hi' (both are greetings) and 'hi' is present in the answer.
'before' could be 'pre' (prefix meaning 'before') and 'pre' is found in the answer.
'work' could be 'place' (place is a kind of work) and 'place' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ment' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?