title: An ambulatory approach to outpatient pediatric cardiac catheterization.
abstract: Outpatient procedures are growing rapidly in all health care facilities. Insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, and DRGs are dictating shorter lengths of stay in the hospital for cardiac catheterizations. An option for low-risk children with cardiac disease is outpatient cardiac catheterization. For a successful outpatient cardiac catheterization, an ambulatory program needs to be in place to provide an efficient, cost-effective, and caring environment for the child and family. With the expansion to the ambulatory setting, the clinical nurse's role and responsibilities have widened. Nursing assessment, intervention, and teaching is ongoing with specific standards in place to deliver quality patient care. Use of the outpatient setting will continue to increase and will accommodate patients cost effectively. The key to the success of the outpatient pediatric cardiac catheterization is to include the family in the health care team approach, which will result in quality patient care with high patient and family satisfaction.
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Gerdes
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000592:standards*; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000451:nursing*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care