[A questionnaire study of day care. Big differences and unused possibilities among Norwegian hospitals]

We have studied the use of day care surgery in surgical, gynecological and ENT-departments in Norwegian hospitals. A questionnaire was sent to 129 departments at 79 hospitals. The response rates were 95.3% and 98.7%. We asked about 28 diagnoses and procedures and whether day care surgery was used systematically. We also asked how day care surgery was organized, how the operations were registered, how the patients were informed about the different procedures and if they had to pay part of the fee themselves. Many departments always hospitalize patients for minor and intermediate surgery, and there are big differences between the hospitals in regard to the extent of day care surgery. Many hospitals do not make full use of available resources because day care surgery is not organized as an alternative to hospitalization.