Today, 65 to 70 percent of general surgery is done on an outpatient basis.
“Now, it’s in and out,” said Dr. Mary Aaland of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UNDSMHS).
Most of these outpatient surgeries could be done at rural hospitals. “We need to re-establish surgery as part of the health care team,” Aaland said.