The safety of office-based surgery: review of recent literature from several disciplines.

OBJECTIVE

To review recent literature pertaining to adverse outcomes and mortality associated with office-based surgery.

STUDY SELECTION

Representative articles from the general and plastic surgery, medical, health regulatory, and dermatology literature.

DATA EXTRACTION

Information regarding which surgical treatments should be performed, which specialties should perform them, what level of anesthesia is appropriate, and who should administer it was assessed, with particular attention to issues of patient safety.

CONCLUSIONS

Office-based surgery is safe and cost-effective. We caution against attempts to prohibit or severely restrict this important aspect of medical care.