[Short hospitalization in routine surgery. Experience with an unselected population].

Three hundred and ninety eight consecutive patients about to be operated upon for inguinal hernia (165), varicose veins (101) or thyroid gland hyperplasia (132) were offered short stay surgery. Patients who left the hospital at day 1 and those who left after day 1 for personal convenience were compared as regards age, sex, occupation, one-sided or two-sided pathology, assisted or non assisted convalescence, life style and drug consumption after discharge. Hernia patients showed no difference in all these parameters. Among varicose vein patients, the proportion of short stay refusals was significant only in women. As for patients undergoing thyroidectomy, only those who had simple lobectomy were in the short stay group. In all cases, short stay had no adverse effect. The main obstacle to short stay surgery might well be the patient himself, as he benefits from full social cover and has access to surgical treatment without being on a long waiting list.