The safety of short hospital stay for abdominal hysterectomy - abstract

ABSTRACT

During the period January, 1990 to April, 1992, a total of 138 abdominal hysterectomies were performed. Of these, 73 patients were permitted traditional full-length hospital stay (mean 6.0 days) and 65 were scheduled to stay for a short post-operative recovery (mean 3.6 days). Indications for surgery and patient characteristics were similar in the two groups. Only two of the short-stay patients had to kept longer than planned. Post-operative complications were fewer in the short-stay group. It is concluded that significant economic benefits and improved bed-space availability can be achieved safely by the curtailment of the length of hospital stay in patients for routine hysterectomy (AU)