[Inpatient treatment of tonsillectomy from the patient's point of view].

BACKGROUND

Hospitalization after tonsillectomy for more than 24 h is still controversial. In order to obtain the patient's point of view, we designed a questionnaire for all patients undergoing tonsillectomy.

METHODS AND RESULTS

From January 2002, we asked all patients admitted for elective tonsillectomy to fill out an anonymous questionnaire on their preferences for the duration of hospitalization after surgery. The majority of patients (79.6%) returning the questionnaire supported a hospital stay of at least 4 days after surgery. Options for a shorter stay of only 24 h or tonsillectomy in day-surgery without overnight stay were declined by all patients.

CONCLUSION

We found that most patients preferred to remain in hospital for about 4 days postoperatively because they felt that they would have better access to effective analgesia. Another reason involved the increased risk for haemorrhage during the first few days after tonsillectomy.