Ambulatory surgery: an overview

Ambulatory surgery is now one of the major areas of surgical and anesthetic practice, with up to 70% of procedures performed in the ambulatory setting. This review focuses on some of the recent studies performed in day case anesthesia. Emphasizing the economic benefits of ambulatory surgery, investigators have studied the cost implications of various anesthetic techniques and their impact on patient recovery, discharge times and readmission rates. Quality anesthetic management measures such as mortality, morbidity, postoperative stay and patient satisfaction ensure that perioperative care and treatment are optimized. Careful patient selection can minimize perioperative events. The concept of multimodal analgesic and antiemetic therapy, in combination with newer anesthetic drugs, help expand the field of ambulatory surgery.