[Outpatient surgery: an unstoppable evolution]

The trend is to definitely shorten hospital stays. It follows in the footsteps of a broader range of surgeries that can be managed in an ambulatory care setting. The expected benefits are: a reduction in costs, a shorter preoperative delay, a shorter absence for the work place and a lessened risk of hospital-borne infections. A multidisciplinary approach is essential for the success of such a program. Surgeons, anaesthetists and nursing staff must be prepared to modify and adapt their skills. The criterion of success for such an endeavour is a low level of readmissions and hospitalisations. If day surgery tends to keep the patient away for the hospital settings, it certainly places him in the centre of his medical management.