Major Ambulatory Surgery

This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables. Abstract Eighteen million operations were performed on an ambulatory basis in 1980. This represents 18% of all operations in that year. One year later in 1981, there were 250 free-standing ambulatory surgery units, and 12 months later the number had increased by 150%. George Hoffman's rule of 40 suggests that 40% of the operations performed in a community hospital can be done on an outpatient basis. Forty operations per month per operating room are needed to break even financially, and the cost is 40% of what it would be if the operation were performed in a traditional hospital operating room. However it is measured, outpatient surgery is here to stay. This book addresses the administrative, anesthetic, and surgical problems and techniques in this burgeoning field. After a section addressing the historic development of the concept, there follow 100 pages giving a pragmatic description of what hospital administrators, nurses, and architects need