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outpatient

outpatient

41 4.1
A person who gets medical treatment at a clinic or hospital but goes home the same day
  • noun
  • /ˈaʊtˌpeɪʃənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : paciente ambulatorio
  • After her surgery, she is recovering as an outpatient, visiting the clinic for check-ups instead of staying overnight.
  • outpatient clinic
  • outpatient surgery
  • outpatient treatment

Examples

  • So, what I'm gonna suggest is that we contact your parents, let them know what's going on, and then we refer you to one of our outpatient services.

  • He's been attending all his appointments at Camillus outpatient.

  • It's supposed to be for this outpatient procedure.

  • I thought it was supposed to be outpatient.

  • I even ran intensive outpatient programs.

  • She's still an outpatient, though.

  • I work with an outpatient program for schizophrenics.

  • The patient was referred to the otolaryngology outpatient clinic for further examination.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Overall, Hathaway and Johnson concluded that UPPP is safe as an outpatient procedure.

    Academic text (2008)
  • All patients were followed in the outpatient clinic, and none had an acute myocardial infarction.

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

patient
vsoutpatient
1.9

A person who is getting medical care from a doctor or hospital

is limited to those treated without staying overnight at hospital or clinic

Antonyms

16 3.9

A person who stays in a hospital to get treatment

How Intensive

inpatient
16 3.9
outpatient
  • Specialized
41 4.1
home care
  • Specialized
11 2.8
to self-heal
1 4.4

Surface Forms

outpatient singular
outpatients plural

Morphology

outpatient = patient (transparent) = out + patient

The meaning follows directly from 'out' (not staying/away) + 'patient' (person receiving treatment): a patient who does not stay overnight. [Postprocessing: moved 'out' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Outpatient comes from out ('not staying in') and patient ('a person receiving medical care'), so it means a patient who gets treatment and goes home the same day instead of staying overnight.