Postoperative recovery and discharge.
Ambulatory surgery provides quality care that is cost-effective. The use of innovative surgical and anesthetic techniques will allow larger numbers of patients to take advantage of the benefits of undergoing an elective operation on an ambulatory basis. Anesthesiologists will be faced with more complex surgery, which will require careful selection and assessment of patients to ensure continuity of the excellent safety record of ambulatory anesthesia. Minor adverse events, such as pain and PONV, are still common. The occurrence of these minor adverse advents is now the major area of quality assessment and an area where improvement could be targeted. Fast tracking facilitates earlier discharge, but we must ensure this has benefit to the patient as speedy discharge may mask the true incidence of adverse minor symptoms. This can lead to patient dissatisfaction and a poor impression of ambulatory surgery.
McGrath
Brid
B
Department of Anesthesia, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, University of Toronto, 399 Bathurst Street, EC 2-046 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8.
Chung
Frances
F
D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D000762:Anesthesia Recovery Period; D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction; D006801:Humans; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000628:therapy; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011182:Postoperative Care; D020250:Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting / Q000628:therapy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology