Pediatric Outpatient Anesthesia / 영남의대학술지

ABSTRACT

In recent years, health care cost containment concerns have resulted in an increase in outpatient (or same-day) surgery. Many procedures previously performed on an inpatient surgery basis have been shifted to outpatient settings. Anesthesia for outpatient surgery is exactly the same as inpatient anesthesia, except that the primary concern is the selection of patients who can be discharged safely on the day of surgery. The anesthesiologist should have a sound rational basis for choice of pharmacologic agents that are geared to expeditious patient discharge from the hospital. Cost concerns aside, outpatient surgery has many additional advantages in the pediatric setting. It minimizes the length of time the child is hospitalized, decreases separation anxiety, promotes parental involvement in the child's postoperative care in the more congenial environment of home, and decreases risk of nosocomial infection and iatrogenic illness.