Plastic surgery in a day-care public hospital unit

Background. The authors describe the advantages and disadvantages of plastic surgery performed in a day-care public hospital unit. Methods. A retrospective study was made of the day-surgery activities over 16 months (1998-1999) as part of a centralized system. Data were compared to day-surgery activities undertaken in 1997 using a non-centralized system. The study was based in the Macchi Foundation Hospital in Varese. A total of 179 patients were treated from all age group whose clinical, intellectual and social characteristics enabled them to be treated using a day-hopital regime. The pathologies treated can be classified into six groups: benign skin pathologies, malignant skin pathologies, scar pathologies, hand disorders, burns and others. All operations were performed as planned under general, local or regional anesthesia with the help of an anesthetist. Results. The centralized system has a number of advantages of a social and technical kind; there are few disadvantages, mainly consisting in the impossibility of using this approach for emergency surgery and its overall rigidity. Conclusions. This form of surgery provides a service that stands out for its quality, organisational efficiency and low cost.