Outpatient Surgery

Outpatient surgery, also known as ambulatory surgery, same-day surgery, day case, or day surgery, is surgery that does not require an overnight hospital stay. The term “outpatient” arises from the fact that surgery patients may go home and do not need an overnight hospital bed. The purpose of outpatient surgery is to keep hospital costs down, as well as saving the patient time that would otherwise be wasted in the hospital.

Outpatient surgery has grown in popularity due to the rise in outpatient surgery centers and improved technology. Outpatient surgery centers often allow patients to get medical surgery and cosmetic surgery done in much more luxurious settings than a state hospital and are often preferred by patients for minor surgical procedures. Improved technology has also increased the frequency of outpatient surgery procedures. With shorter medical procedure duration and fewer complications it makes sense to let patients go home sooner. About 55% of all surgical procedures are done on an outpatient basis.

Patients should check with their doctor for all information covering preparation for outpatient procedures. Complications related to surgery occur less than 1% of the time in outpatient settings. However, in terms of patient safety, non-hospital settings are not as regulated as hospitals are. Patients should inquire about all ambulatory clinics, surgical centers, and physicians' offices to make sure they meet state guidelines.

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), also known as outpatient surgery centers or same day surgery centers, are health care facilities where surgical procedures not requiring an overnight hospital stay are performed. Such surgery is commonly less complicated than that requiring hospitalization. Avoiding hospitalization can result in cost savings to the party responsible for paying for the patient's health care.

An ASC, sometimes called surgicenter, specializes in providing surgery, including certain pain management and diagnostic (e.g., colonoscopy) services in an outpatient setting. Overall, the services provided can be generally called procedures. In simple terms, ASC-qualified procedures can be considered procedures that are more intensive than those done in the average doctor's office but not so intensive as to require a hospital stay. An ambulatory surgery center and a specialty hospital often provide similar facilities and support similar types of procedures. The specialty hospital may provide the same procedures or slightly more complex ones and the specialty hospital will often allow an overnight stay. ASCs do not routinely provide emergency services to patients who have not been admitted to the ASC for another procedure.

...
Wikipedia