Short-Stay Surgery: Impact of Opening a New Unit in a Tertiary Urban Hospital

Objective: The number of procedures considered suitable for short-stay surgery has experienced a remarkable increase. The objective of the study was to determine whether a new short-stay surgical unit (SSSU) was an effective alternative to conventional Hospital Units (HU) for selected elective and urgent surgical conditions. Methods: A comparative analysis (Mann-Whitney test) was used to identify differences between patients admitted to HU (n = 2873) and those admitted to the SSSU (n = 544) during the following months (January 1, 2014 to August 31, 2014, and January 1, 2015 to August 31, 2015, respectively). Results: Statistically significant differences were found in terms of mean length of stay (HU: 4.8 days versus SSSU: 2.2 days; P < 0.0001), and a number of associated conditions (HU: 1.37 versus SSSU: 1.09; P = 0.02). There were no statistically significant differences regarding age and sex. Conclusions: We conclude that selected surgical patients with elective or acute conditions can be effectively treated in the SSSU.