Day Surgery : Enhancing Quality of Care and Efficiency

Overview & Synopsis

The term day surgery is not simply surgery with admission and discharge on the same day, but rather the practice of admitting into a health facility carefully selected and prepared patients for a planned, non-emergency procedure that avoids the need for an overnight stay. Day surgeries are case types that will traditionally have been treated as inpatient cases. However, through careful patient selection and screening and education, dedicated day surgery facilities and teams, and compliance with enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols spanning pre-hospital to post-discharge stages, need for an overnight stay can safely be avoided. Although the standard definition of day surgery excludes emergency cases, some types of emergency surgeries can be performed on a same-day basis, such as incision and drainage of an abscess. Day surgery continues to expand as a share of all elective surgeries and accounts for a high share of surgeries in many countries.