What Is Ambulatory Care? Overview and FAQ
Providers treat patients in a variety of settings within our modern healthcare system, from hospitals and stand-alone emergency departments to ambulatory facilities. So, what is ambulatory care? The American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAANC) describes it as the application of the nursing process in outpatient settings to deliver safe, quality care and improve patient outcomes.
With issues like inadequate staffing and bed shortages, hospitals alone are unable to provide the diverse and in-depth care that individuals often require. Ambulatory settings are used to help streamline care for patients who don’t need complex treatments. We’ll answer some common questions about ambulatory care, covering the types of patients who use it and ways in which this practice can be beneficial for you, your staff, and your patients.
What Is Ambulatory Care?
Clinicians working in ambulatory care often have the responsibility of caring for patients across the lifespan, from infancy to adulthood. This specialty involves the treatment of patients in outpatient care settings, completing treatment without hospital admission.
There is no real difference in ambulatory care vs. outpatient care; these terms can be used interchangeably when discussing this patient population. Ambulatory practice definitions may vary slightly within niches of the healthcare industry, but in general they contain the following key characteristics:
- The patient has outpatient status.
- No overnight stay is required.
- The patient can walk in, receive care, and walk out (in other words, the patient is ambulatory).
What Are Typical Ambulatory Care Settings?
Ambulatory care is typically performed in locations such as:
- Physician offices
- Vaccination clinics
- Dialysis facilities
- Outpatient surgery centers (also called ambulatory surgical centers)
- Infusion clinics
There are exceptions, however, when ambulatory care is provided in inpatient facilities. For example, the emergency department in the hospital often treats patients classified as “outpatients.” The individual comes in for treatment and leaves the same day with no critical health concerns.
Ambulatory care clinicians play a vital role in ensuring that patients with acute and chronic conditions receive safe, timely treatment. Through the establishment of relationship-based care, these clinicians can help to improve outcomes for their patients, decrease emergency department visits, and lower the frequency of hospital readmission.
What Is an Example of Ambulatory Care?
The scope, volume, and complexity of patient services in ambulatory care facilities is expanding to help alleviate the overcrowding problem in hospitals that are at full capacity. Facilities employ multidisciplinary staff, including nurses, physicians, physical therapists, medical technicians, and administrative staff, to serve this diverse patient population.
Some administrators may ask, Is ambulatory care primary care? The short answer is no. Primary care is just one example of an ambulatory care service, but there are many types of treatments covered under the ambulatory care umbrella. The list below shows examples of the types of care patients can receive:
- Physical exams and vaccinations
- Radiology imaging like x-rays, MRIs, mammograms, and CT scans
- Laboratory blood draws
- Chemotherapy or dialysis
- Urgent care like stitches, sutures, soft-casting for minor ailments and injuries
- Small surgeries like skin biopsies, laparoscopic abdominal surgery, or colonoscopies
What Does “Ambulatory” Mean?
Determining what is ambulatory care and what is not ambulatory care is rooted in whether the patient can be classified as ambulatory. This might seem complicated, but categorizing these patients is actually quite simple. To answer the question, Is the patient ambulatory? you can ask the following questions:
- Will this patient’s treatment last more than 24 hours?
- Does this patient need to be hospitalized for this care occurrence?
- Am I concerned about the patient’s immediate health status?
- Do I feel that the patient needs routine monitoring after this treatment?
If the answer to all of these questions is no, then your patient is ambulatory, and can be classified as an ambulatory care patient.
Why Is Ambulatory Care Important?
Ambulatory facilities offer life-saving treatments outside of the traditional hospital setting. This allows companies to cut costs, reduce redundancy, appeal to the modern needs of patients, and even improve staff wellness.
How Ambulatory Care Helps Your Facility
With the breadth and variety of services provided, it’s unsurprising that nearly 90% of healthcare treatments are provided in outpatient care settings. Facilities can focus on reducing patient readmissions and consolidating care efforts by incorporating ambulatory care centers into their healthcare models.
Expanded electronic medical record (EMR) and telehealth capabilities allow healthcare systems to provide seamless care across outpatient and inpatient settings. Facilities can cut costs by reducing the redundancy of tests and diagnostics, especially for chronic care patients who frequently access ambulatory treatments and services.
How Ambulatory Care Helps Your Staff
The outpatient setting offers plenty of perks for its employees, helping with nurse retention and reduction of nurse turnover. Outside of busy hospital units, ambulatory care clinicians can work at a slower pace and often have more time to educate each patient. They can develop meaningful relationships with the people they care for, as many chronic-care patients receive ambulatory treatments routinely.
Another benefit to working in an ambulatory facility is that workdays are often Monday through Friday, for 8-hour shifts instead of the normal 12-hour shifts of hospital staff. Clinicians looking to establish a more regular schedule, cut down on night shifts, and develop a healthy work-life balance are often drawn to working in the ambulatory care environment.
How Ambulatory Care Helps Your Patients
Ambulatory care settings make it easier for patients to access the healthcare system. Walk-in style environments like vaccination clinics and urgent care centers appeal to individuals with busy schedules. Small waiting rooms across the community provide much shorter wait times for acute, easy-to-fix problems, compared to traditional hospital emergency departments.
Ambulatory care centers allow hospital emergency rooms to prioritize critically ill patients. Decreased door-to-physician times lead to better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction in outpatient facilities with 24-hour appointment availability.
Need More Healthcare Resources?
We know that What is ambulatory care? isn’t the only question on your mind. Whether you’re a leader within an extensive healthcare system or a small clinic, we have answers. Our trusted healthcare facility resources deliver the up-to-date info you need to help your facility grow and thrive.