Introduction
The constant emphasis on reducing expenditure within the healthcare system has led to an increase in outpatient procedures and surgeries (1). Ambulatory procedures are an attractive option for both healthcare institutions and patients due to low operative cost, favourable clinical outcomes and increased patient satisfaction (2,3). The American Hospital Association reported that the majority of procedures in the field of otolaryngology are performed as outpatient procedures such as sinus surgeries (4), thyroidectomy (5) and adenotonsillectomies (6)) for the reasons mentioned above.
In current practice, majority of parotidectomies are performed as an inpatient surgery due to drain insertion (7). Percutaneous drain is often inserted during parotidectomies to drain the vascular rich supply of the parotid and collect any post-incisional salivary leakage (7). The majority of the drains are left for 24 hours, increasing hospital admission by 1.5 days (8). Recently, several institutions have adapted drainless outpatient parotidectomy and there is growing evidence in the literature which suggests outpatient parotidectomy is safe and its post-operative complication and hospital readmission rates are comparable to inpatient parotidectomies (9-14).
Although the majority of studies have shown that the complication rates and clinical outcomes of outpatient parotidectomies are similar to inpatient parotidectomies, patients’ perspective and satisfaction on outpatient parotidectomies have not yet been reported. In this study, we aim to evaluate patients’ perspective and their satisfaction on drainless outpatient parotidectomy.