Dilemma of same day admission - Where do we draw the line?

Abstract

Introduction: Same day admission (SDA), even for major surgery, is already a reality in South Africa with in excess of 80% of patients being admitted on the day of surgery. It represents a natural component of the “fast track” approach to surgery and has been integrated into clinical care pathways for a variety of major surgical conditions. All of these entities, while they expose optimal patient management, care and outcome, are essentially economically driven. In other words, they are designed to save funders (and hopefully, the entire health care system) money.