Editing Patient (section)

==Outpatients and inpatients==
[[File:Haavoittuneita Punaisen ristin sairaalassa Tampereella (26901645371).jpg|thumb|250px|Patients at the Red Cross Hospital in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]] during the 1918 [[Finnish Civil War]]]]
[[File:Receptionist attending to clients at the out patient.JPG|thumb|Receptionist in [[Kenya]] attending to an outpatient]]
An '''outpatient''' (or '''out-patient''') is a patient who attends an [[Outpatient clinic (hospital department)|outpatient clinic]] with no plan to stay beyond the duration of the visit.  Even if the patient will not be formally admitted with a note as an outpatient, their attendance is still registered, and the provider will usually give a note explaining the reason for the [[doctor's visit|visit]], [[medical test|test]]s, or [[medical procedure|procedure]]/[[surgery]], which should include the names and titles of the participating personnel, the patient's name and [[date of birth]], signature of [[informed consent]], estimated pre-and post-service time for [[medical history|history]] and [[physical examination|exam]] (before and after), any [[anesthesia]], [[medication]]s or future [[therapy|treatment]] plans needed, and estimated time of [[Inpatient care#Progress|discharge]] absent any (further) [[complication (medicine)|complication]]s.  Treatment provided in this fashion is called [[ambulatory care]].  Sometimes surgery is performed without the need for a formal hospital admission or an overnight stay, and this is called [[outpatient surgery]] or day surgery, which has many benefits including lowered [[Health system#Financial resources|healthcare cost]], reducing the amount of medication prescribed, and using the physician's or surgeon's time more efficiently.  Outpatient surgery is suited best for more healthy patients undergoing minor or intermediate procedures (limited [[urologic|urinary-tract]], [[ophthalmologic|eye]], or [[ear, nose and throat|ear, nose, and throat]] procedures and procedures involving superficial skin and the extremities).  More procedures are being performed in a [[surgeon]]'s office, termed ''office-based surgery'', rather than in a hospital-based [[operating room]].

[[File:Crazy Love.jpg|thumb|A mother spends days sitting with her son, a hospital patient in Mali]]
An '''inpatient''' (or '''in-patient'''), on the other hand, is "admitted" to stay in a hospital overnight or for an indeterminate time, usually, several days or weeks, though in some extreme cases, such as with [[coma]] or [[persistent vegetative state]], patients can stay in hospitals for years, sometimes until [[death]].  Treatment provided in this fashion is called [[inpatient care]]. The admission to the hospital involves the production of an [[admission note]]. The leaving of the hospital is officially termed ''discharge'', and involves a corresponding [[discharge note]], and sometimes an assessment process to consider ongoing needs.  In the [[English NHS|English National Health Service]] this may take the form of "Discharge to Assess" - where the assessment takes place after the patient has gone home.<ref>{{cite news |title=Unpaid carers' rights are overlooked in hospital discharge |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/unpaid-carers-rights-are-overlooked-in-hospital-discharge/7030840.article |access-date=16 October 2021 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=8 September 2021}}</ref>

Misdiagnosis is the leading cause of [[medical error]] in outpatient facilities. When the U.S. [[National Academy of Medicine|Institute of Medicine]]'s groundbreaking 1999 report, ''[[To Err Is Human (report)|To Err Is Human]]'', found up to 98,000 hospital patients die from preventable medical errors in the U.S. each year,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kohn |editor1-first=Linda T. |editor2-last=Corrigan |editor2-first=Janet M. |editor3-last=Donaldson |editor3-first=Molla S. |title=To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System |date=2000 |publisher=National Academy Press |location=Washington D.C. |doi=10.17226/9728 |pmid=25077248 |isbn=0-309-06837-1 |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/9728/chapter/1 |language=en|author1=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America |last2=Kohn |first2=L. T. |last3=Corrigan |first3=J. M. |last4=Donaldson |first4=M. S. }}</ref> early efforts focused on inpatient safety.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bates |first1=David W. |last2=Singh |first2=Hardeep |title=Two Decades Since: An Assessment Of Progress And Emerging Priorities In Patient Safety |journal=Health Affairs |date=November 2018 |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=1736–1743 |doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0738|pmid=30395508 |doi-access=free }}</ref> While patient safety efforts have focused on inpatient hospital settings for more than a decade, medical errors are even more likely to happen in a [[doctor's office]] or outpatient clinic or center.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}