[Day-surgery as a factor in reducing hospital stay]

The authors analyse the factors that have conditioned the early development of day-surgery in Italy and enumerate its fields of application. They outline the history of day-surgery and report the results of studies, citing laws, documents, rules and guidelines governing its application in Italy today. They also analyse the reasons why a more widespread use of day-surgery is proving difficult in Italy. They consider the surgeon's liability and briefly report the results of day-surgery activity at the "G. Martino" Polyclinic Endocrine General Surgery Unit in Messina, consisting in over 3000 operations since 1987. In conclusion, they consider the undoubted advantages of day-surgery for selected operations and stress that it is an effective alternative in comparison with the traditional hospital stay, according to the new philosophy inspiring modern medical care, namely, that of "operating better, in the patient's interest, at lower cost, and quickly".