Outpatient preanaesthesia evaluation clinics.

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift from an inpatient to outpatient preanaesthesia evaluation. This has been driven by rising healthcare costs and the increasing popularity of ambulatory and same-day admission surgery. These outpatient preanaesthesia clinics play an important role in enhancing the cost-effectiveness of the perioperative process. This review describes the structure of modern outpatient preanaesthesia evaluation clinics, and the associated benefits, limitations and controversies.