Outpatient treatment is a way of providing medical care to the population, which does not imply placing the patient in a hospital. All diagnostic and treatment measures are carried out at home or when the patient arrives at the doctor’s medical center.
Thus, medical care is organized in relation to patients whose condition does not require round-the-clock bed rest and continuous, systematic monitoring by specialist doctors. An outpatient is to the attending physician at the appointed time to monitor the condition and evaluate its dynamics.
Medical institutions providing medical care in this mode are an outpatient clinic and a polyclinic.
What is an outpatient clinic
An outpatient clinic is a treatment and prevention institution whose tasks are to provide medical assistance to the population attached to it according to the territorial principle, in accordance with the main medical areas, on an outpatient basis.
In the outpatient clinic, a medical history must be kept for everyone who seeks medical help. Thus, patient records are kept.
The provision of medical care on the basis of a medical outpatient clinic is covered by the field of medical insurance.
The outpatient clinic can exist as an independent medical institution, which is a separate legal entity, and can be part of the hospital and be one of its structural divisions.
Evaluation of the effective activity of the outpatient clinic is carried out using an analysis of the incidence among the attached population, statistics on temporary disability, the incidence rate of infectious diseases, and other demographic indicators. The quality of the medical examination is also taken into account.
The construction of an outpatient clinic, including in rural areas, is usually carried out in conjunction with a pharmacy institution and housing, intended for medical workers and pharmacy employees.
Mobile Outpatient Unit
Mobile dispensary is a unit based on the central district hospitals. The tasks of such a mobile outpatient service include:
- organization and implementation of periodic medical examinations and medical examinations;
- organizing and conducting consultations with representatives of the assigned contingent;
- providing medical assistance to the population attached to the hospital, including for narrow medical specialties, by doctors who are part of the staff of the central district hospital.
What is the difference between an outpatient clinic
A polyclinic is a type of medical and prophylactic institution of a multidisciplinary or specialized type, designed to provide medical care and conduct diagnostic measures at a reception or at home.
Unlike the clinic, the outpatient clinic does not have sufficient capacity and staff to provide medical and preventive work in a wide range of areas of medicine; medical care here is carried out only according to the main medical profiles:
- therapy;
- surgery;
- obstetrics and gynecology (in large outpatient clinics of rural settlements);
- Dentistry
- pediatrics.
How staffed institutions
The management of an independent outpatient clinic is carried out by the head physician, whose functions are to develop a staffing table.
The institution includes the following units, staffed by relevant specialists:
- Registry.
- Offices of medical specialists.
- Diagnostic structures (X-ray room, laboratory, functional diagnostics department).
- Treatment departments (physiotherapy, treatment room).
- Another department that can be deployed on an outpatient basis is a day hospital designed for a small number of beds. In this case, the staff also includes a doctor, as well as a nurse or a paramedic of a day hospital.
The organization of an outpatient clinic implies the existence of a pharmacy institution. This, as a rule, is taken into account during the construction of buildings intended for the opening of an outpatient clinic.