I'm going home right after surgery. Interest in overnight medicine is growing

60,000 patients have been operated on at the Beroun hospital's day care centre, and now new operating theatres have been opened. Renáta, who had problems with her kneecap, also underwent the procedure. "I came at seven in the morning, had some minor pre-operative procedures and then they brought me here," says Renáta. If there are no problems, the patient is already home by this time.

They can do up to fifty similar procedures in a day at the day surgery. "Interest in same-day care is growing. It is pleasant in that they get to their home environment in the evening or the next morning," noted Petr Zeithaml, the head of the Beroun Rehabilitation Hospital's day surgery.
The average hospitalisation time in the Czech Republic is decreasing and currently stands at around six days. Reducing the length of stay of patients in hospitals can save money, for example through lower staff costs.

However, it is always up to the doctor to decide who undergoes the one-day procedure, taking into account the condition of the individual patient. "It requires some anaesthesia, it's not quite the right one for every patient. A patient who has some cardiac disease is not meant for this," said Zdeněk Kopečný, head of the arthroscopy centre at the hospital in Beroun.

Overnight care is now provided by about 170 medical facilities. The list of procedures includes laparoscopic operations on knee joints, hernia or gallbladder. Next year, the number of these could be expanded again. "The scope will certainly increase. It is necessary to gain experience with these same-day procedures and it is necessary to create a system of follow-up care," said MP Tom Philipp (KDU-ČSL).

Source: tn.cz, Editorial staff of TN.cz, 1 December 2024