[Current status of ambulatory pediatric anesthesia]

Anaesthesia in paediatric outpatients represents a multi-facetted challenge for the anaesthesiologist. Certain steps have to be taken to allow preoperative examination of the patient on an outpatient basis. Preoperative screening should identify patients whom it is preferable to treat as inpatients. During the preoperative visit, the patient must be prepared for anaesthesia, and the importance of preoperative fasting must be stressed. The anaesthetic technique used has to take into consideration the fact that the patient must be awake and alert in the early postoperative period. Adequate pain treatment is essential postoperatively. Prophylactic administration of antiemetic agents must be considered for special operations. Patients should also be discharged according to standardised guidelines. In this way, the risks involved in anaesthesia and surgery should not be higher for outpatients than they are for inpatients.