[Feasibility of week surgery model in general surgery]

Progress in medical technology and the research in cost-effectiveness have provided an implementation on new general surgery models. Week Surgery model is a maximum 5 days stay surgical unit which represents an important contribution to surgical therapeutic strategies, allowing an excellent compromise between safety, convenience for the patient and economic savings for health care structures. This model represent an excellent compromise between elective and emergency care and thus allow to improve patients flow across the week, a most efficient bed utilisation and reallocating hospital workloads. With the aim of testing the feasibility of the application of Week Surgery model was carried out a seven-years retrospective study (2000-2006) among Veneto Region public hospitals. Results suggest that week surgery model can be considered a valid and achievable alternative organisation compared to conventional hospitalization: 61% of patient undenrwent elective surgery were discharged in less than 5 days.