Patient discharge from the ambulatory setting

Ambulatory surgical care is an integral part of the health care spectrum. The advantages of such care are well documented. One benefit of outpatient care is the potential for cost savings for the patient, medical facility, and third party payers by dismissing the patient to a remote recovery location following surgery and intermediate anesthetic recovery. To realize this goal an essential component of patient management must be the safe and expedient postoperative care of the patient until they are discharged from the ambulatory facility. This article will review considerations for discharging the surgical patient from the ambulatory setting.