REVIEW OF EFFICIENCIES AND PATIENT SATISFACTION IN AUSTRALIAN AND NEW-ZEALAND DAY SURGERY UNITS - A PILOT-STUDY

A pilot study was performed in eight Australasian day surgery faciliti es with a purpose of identifying common trends and differences. A pros pective study was designed in which information was collected on 826 p atients over a two-week period. Patients were well matched for age, an aesthetic type and mean surgical time. Three facility types were ident ified and results were statistically corrected for any differences tha t ASA status, age and surgical time may have made. Patient preoperativ e waiting time, recovery room times, delayed discharge time and unanti cipated admission rates showed favourable outcome trends for free-stan ding facilities compared with hospital-integrated facilities where day patients had a shared recovery with inpatients. Similar trends were s een with patient opinions of waiting times and recovery periods. In su mmary, this pilot study has demonstrated the impact of different facil ity types on efficiencies and patient satisfaction both of which have important cost implications and relevance to those involved in continu ous quality improvement processes in day surgery.