Ambulatory Care - Ambulatory Care Settings

Ambulatory Care Settings

Health care organizations use different ways to define the nature of care provided as "ambulatory" versus inpatient or other types of care.

Sites where ambulatory care can be delivered include:

• Doctor's surgeries (known as doctor's offices in American English): This is the most common site for the delivery of ambulatory care in many countries, and usually consists of a physician's visit. Physicians of many specialties deliver ambulatory care. These physicians include specialists in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics, gynaecology, cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, ophthalmology, and dermatology.

• Clinics: Including ambulatory care clinics, polyclinics, ambulatory surgery centers, and urgent care centres.
  • In the United States, the Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) estimates that over 15,000 urgent care centers deliver urgent care services. These centers are designed to evaluate and treat conditions that are not severe enough to require treatment in a hospital emergency department but still require treatment beyond normal physician office hours or before a physician appointment is available.
  • In Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, Feldsher health stations are the main site for ambulatory care in rural areas.

• Hospitals: Including emergency departments and other hospital-based services such as same day surgery services and mental health services.
  • Hospital emergency departments: Some visits to emergency departments result in hospital admission, so these would be considered emergency medicine visits rather than ambulatory care. Most visits to hospital emergency departments, however, do not require hospital admission.
• Non-medical institution-based settings: Including school and prison health; vision, dental and pharmaceutical care.