Patients dismissed alone after an outpatient ambulatory procedure with anesthesia have no increased risk of adverse outcomes compared to patients released with an escort, according to a study published in Mayo Clinical Proceedings.
Researchers compared 2,441 patients who left the facility alone in accordance with the sedation dismissal process protocol with 4,923 patients who had an adult escort. The patients underwent procedures between 2012 and 2017 and were 61 years old, on average.
Here are three insights:
1. The rate of unplanned readmission related to the procedure was 0.11 percent.
2. Patients without an escort had an unplanned readmission rate of 0.07 percent, and patients in the other group had a rate of 0.14 percent. The difference was not significant.
3. There was also no difference in complication rates between the groups when looking at procedure-related unplanned readmissions and "all causes" of unplanned readmissions.
"With proper preparation, short-acting anesthetic/sedation medications and sound clinical judgment, the presence of a responsible adult escort is not associated with reduced risk following discharge after ambulatory anesthesia," researchers concluded. "This practice may lessen the hardships reported by patients in needing to obtain an escort and the inconveniences and delays experienced by ambulatory procedural facilities when patients arrive without a designated escort."