Why Ambulatory Services Are Increasing In Popularity

By Cornelia White


The most common methods of healthcare provision is either under inpatient method where a patient stays in the hospital wards during the entire period of treatment or outpatient method where a patient do not have to stay in the hospital ward for treatment. The medical care procedure provided under outpatient method is ambulatory services. It covers all care and support, sometimes acute or even minor surgery that involves a day visit provided to outpatients.

Ambulatory service clinics are being set aside by the majority of hospitals as most patients are treated on the outpatient categories. Huge budgets are even set for these clinics with specialties from all the medical fields including neurologists, oncologists, gynecologists, orthopedics among others all coming together under these clinics.

In the majority of advanced ambulatory care clinics, patients will normally be assigned to a special nurse who will coordinate his entire treatment program. In addition of answering the questions from the patient, this primary nursed plan all the treatment in all other visits, link with the doctors and other specialists in charge of that patient, keep all the records related to that patient and keep in touch with their patient to update his/her medical records. These nurses are basically charged with the responsibly of successful recovery of the patient.

For the success of ambulatory services, a multidisciplinary approach is usually involved. A team of doctors from different specialties are involved in addition to nurses, therapists, social workers and all well being personnel like wellness and fitness instructors and nutritionists among others. The patient is normally assured of full recovery under a success program with the whole coordination responsibility left in the hands of a primary nurse.

With the popularity ambulatory services, insurance companies are readily offering covers in this area. Many employee benefits also include medical covers in this category, the result of which has seen these programs offered in highly subsidized costs particularly depending on the type of cover. In fact, the determinant of whether treatment is to be through in patient or outpatient process is normally the existing medical condition and the insurance cover.

Other than the normal treatments, many treatments that are now being provided through outpatient means include physical rehabilitation, orthotic, sport related injuries, chronic back pains (both acute and chronic), arthritis, neurology, oncology (polio, stroke, and nerve impairment), orthopedics (skeletal related disorders), osteoporosis (evaluation treatment), genetics and hereditary diseases, wound healing, rheumatology, and scoliosis among other support procedures.

The success of outpatient medical care requires that the nurse in charge keep a close contact with patients in form of close monitoring. Health institutions are focusing their development and expansion plans in the outpatient sector with the construction of several clinics closers to the residents of their clients for taster access. Some other doctors are tasked with periodic visits to regional centers to reach patients in their localities. These are just some of the options medical institutions are exploiting to take advantage of this rapidly expanding market gap.

The bottom line is that ambulatory services are the preferred alternative as they cut operational costs, reduces congestion in hospitals while at the same time increases revenues for the medical institutions.




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