Effectiveness of Day-case Surgery in Urology: Single Surgeon Experience

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and cost effectiveness of day-case and short stay surgery in urology. Design: Retrospective. Setting: Urology Unit, Ibn Al Nafees hospital. Method: A retrospective study of 300 patients operated upon at Ibn Al Nafees Hospital as day-case and short stay surgery between January 2003 and December 2005. The majority of these patients had intermediate or minor procedures, but few had major procedures. Result: Two hundred andrological procedures, for impotence 96, infertility 76 and 28 vasectomy were done as day surgery together with all the minor urological procedures; most of these patients went home few hours after surgery. Twenty major (47%) procedures needed to stay a little longer especially in open kidney surgery. Conclusion: Day-case and short stay surgery in urology is feasible, and cost effective especially in private setting. In this study, most patients left the hospital few hours after the surgery.