Abstract
Objectives: To assess the current status of day and short stay surgery.
Methods: One hundred and fifteen patients who underwent day surgery and 241 patients who underwent short stay surgery at our clinic were studied.
Results: There were 4 patients (1.1%) aged under 3 years old, and 44 patients (12.4%) aged over 65 years old. Among 356 patients,315 (88.5%) patients underwent operations under general anesthesia. The operation time was shorter than 30 minutes in most day surgeries, and shorter than 1 hour in most short stay surgeries. Day or short stay surgery was indicated based on each surgical procedure. Peiroperative care was performed based on the clinical path. The rate of complications was 2.6% in day surgery and 13.7% in short stay surgery. One patient (0.8%) was hospitalized emergently in day surgery and 5 patients (2.0%) were re-hospitalized or their discharge was delayed in short stay surgery. The most important complication after the operation was epistaxis due to nasal surgery. Nineteen complications (52%) occurred until one day after operation, and the rate of complications decreased rapidly there after.
Conclusions: Day or short stay ENT surgery can be performed safely in patients at any age.
