Day surgery ward, popular with eye patients

“As its name suggests, the Day Surgery Ward is a 24-hour ward where patients can complete the entire process from hospitalization to discharge, including surgical treatment, and is known abroad as the “23-hour ward”. This is a patient-centered treatment model between outpatient emergency care and hospitalization, and is an effective supplement to the traditional medical model. The International Society of Ambulatory Surgery defines “ambulatory surgery” as a procedure in which the patient is admitted, operated on, and discharged from the hospital within one working day, except for outpatient surgery performed in a physician’s office or hospital. Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom developed day surgery units as early as the 80s and 90s. Our ophthalmology department has long been in a “difficult to find a bed”, not only delayed the treatment of eye diseases, but also increased the financial burden of patients. Since the promotion of “Day Surgery Ward” in August last year, it has been welcomed by the patients because it reduces the waiting time for surgery, shortens the patients’ stay in the hospital, reduces the patients’ hospitalization cost, and the reimbursement is the same as that of the general wards. At present, the “Day Surgery Ward” is mainly for the majority of cataract patients, and the preoperative preparation, surgical operation and postoperative treatment are the same as those for traditional hospitalized patients. However, for patients with poor physical condition, cataract combined with other eye diseases, who cannot cooperate with surface anesthesia or local anesthesia, or those who are blind in both eyes, the traditional inpatient treatment will be given priority. During the outpatient visit, the doctor will advise the patient accordingly.