The article explores the historical development of private accreditation of ambulatory surgery in the United States. It documents the relationship with the emergence of Medicare and the migration of surgery…
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are being asked to use a safe surgical checklist in 2012 and to report that it has been used in 2013. Checklists should focus on communication…
Identifying those patients with the highest risk leads to the greatest success in reducing postoperative nausea and vomiting by modifying the anesthetic plan to decrease baseline risk, and implementing the…
Although Internet-based quality assurance and peer review data have demonstrated the safety of procedures performed in the outpatient setting through the analysis of outcomes, the future of patient care will…
The Authors discuss the importance of evidence based medicine (EBM) as related particularly to outpatient surgery. They discuss the five core steps in current EBM and take the reader through…
In the plastic surgery patient population, outpatient surgery is cost effective and will continue to grow as the preferred arena for performing surgery in healthy patients. Although there is a…
Homeotherms, including humans, are able to maintain a relatively constant temperature despite variations in their thermal environment. We normally maintain a narrow thermoregulatory threshold range of approximately 0.2°C, and little…
Office endoscopy is an accepted safe alternative to in-hospital care. Attention to detail will help to ensure that the vast majority of procedures will be successfully completed without incident. Although…
This article summarizes current information on the risk and the assessment of risks for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) resulting from plastic surgery procedures. Risk assessment is the foundation for recommended…
Most outpatient cosmetic procedures are now performed in surgeons’ offices, with patients under local anesthesia and minimal intravenous sedation. Sedation at any level beyond minimal creates the risk of airway…
