Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy pathway plan of care for the pediatric patient in day surgery.

The care of children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) in the day surgery setting can be costly, due in a large part to the length of stay after surgery. A clinical pathway standardizes the length of stay and, therefore, directly controls costs associated with outpatient T&A. A T&A pathway plan of care was developed at one institution to (1) decrease the cost of the procedure, (2) improve parent/patient satisfaction, and (3) maintain or improve the quality of care.