Abstract
As the length of stay for hip and knee arthroplasty has decreased over the years, "outpatient," or same-calendar-day discharge has become increasingly common. Outpatient arthroplasty offers several possible benefits over traditional inpatient arthroplasty, including potential for cost reductions, faster rehabilitation, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced reliance on hospital resources. Despite these possible benefits, concerns remain over feasibility and patient safety. To date, multiple studies have demonstrated that, for select patients, "outpatient" hip and knee arthroplasty can be safe and effective and yield complication and readmission rates similar to inpatient procedures at potentially significant cost savings. Successful outpatient pathways have emphasized careful patient selection, detailed patient education, enlistment of strong social support, utilization of multimodal analgesia and strong "episode ownership," and involvement on behalf of the surgical team. As outpatient hip and knee arthroplasty becomes increasingly common, continued investigation into all aspects of the surgical episode is warranted.
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