Ambulatory operations are those where the patient is not admitted to hospital, is followed up for several, usually 4 - 6 hours after operation (one day surgery, day case). After “semiambulatory operations” the patient leaves the health institution on the following morning (overnight stay). Ambulatory and semiambulatory surgery calls for strict criteria of patient selecti- on. This pertains to medical and social conditions which must be met to make this type of surgery safe. In general simple operations should be involved, the list of which is not unequivocal. Preope- rative examination should be performed by an anaesthesiologist who will decide on the extent and need of examination. A higher incidence of complications is observed in particular in procedures lasting more than 25 minutes. Fore evaluation of the patient’s state before discharge an anaesthe- siological scoring pattern is used (e.g. PADSS or Aldrete scoring system). On discharge the patient must be handed documentation with information whom to contact in the case of complications. “Short-term surgery” calls for close collaboration of the surgeon and anaesthesiologist. The authors give an account of these criteria with the aim to make the wider medical public familiar with this problem and to initiate a discussion on the development and conditions of short-term surgery in otorhinolaryngology in the Czech Republic.

        Key words: one day surgery, day case, overnight surgery, general anaesthesia, risks of short-term hospitalization, medical criteria, social criteria