BACKGROUND Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is now the procedure of choice for symptomatic gallbladder disease. Although many recent studies, mostly from abroad, report that it can be performed safely in the outpatient setting, the experience of outpatient LC in Hong Kong is still limited. This retrospective study evaluated the feasibility, safety and patient acceptance of outpatient LC in Hon...

This article explores whether Medicare pays more for the same outpatient services provided in an acute specialty hospital than in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC). How financially dependent a specialty hospital is on ASC-eligible services is also investigated. Medicare outpatient claims in 43 orthopedic and 12 surgical specialty hospitals in 2004 were repriced using ASC pricing software. Paym...

This paper provides information on the reliability and validity of an employee questionnaire developed in a study of patient safety in outpatient surgery. The Systems Engineering Intervention in Outpatient Surgery (SEIPS), a collaborative community perspective project currently underway at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examines the impact of a systems engineering intervention on both emp...

BACKGROUND Because outpatient surgery is being increasingly scrutinized in the lay press, it is important that dermatologists and dermatologic surgeons accurately characterize the safety of office-based surgery. Although there is abundant anecdotal evidence to support the inherent safety of dermatologic surgery, there are few data that support the safety of Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) as pe...

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are small (typically physician owned) healthcare facilities that specialize in performing outpatient surgeries and therefore compete against hospitals for patients. Physicians who own ASCs could treat their most profitable patients at their ASCs and less profitable patients at hospitals. This paper asks if the profitability of an outpatient surgery impacts wher...

The treatment of bilateral inguinal hernias using totally extraperitoneal laparoscopy is usually done with general anaesthesia. The objective of this article is to evaluate the regional anaesthesia technique in extraperitoneal laparoscopic surgery for treating bilateral inguinal hernias in an outpatient surgery unit. Prospective clinical study of 30 patients with uncomplicated bilateral inguina...

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the postoperative pain and analgesic profiles of a group of 50 patients undergoing outpatient anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and to compare their profiles with those of a group of 50 patients undergoing outpatient non-ACL arthroscopic surgery. All patients received preoperative and postoperative ketorolac, intraincisional/intra-art...

BACKGROUND Control of surgical site infections (SSI) is imperative for the safety of our patients. As orthopedic surgeons we strive to have the lowest infection rate possible for all our surgical procedures. this study evaluates the effects of a simple outpatient peri-operative patient cleaning protocol (The Steiros Algorithm(®) Outpatient Surgery Protocol) on SSI rates. METHODS We retrospect...