Our Services

Outpatient Services

Not many years ago an appendectomy or certain other operations could have required a lengthy hospital stay followed by another lengthy stay at home before a patient could return to work. But times have changed. 

Outpatient (or ambulatory) care doesn't mean you don't get a bed. It means you receive care in a clinic, hospital outpatient department or emergency department without being admitted overnight or staying longer than 24 hours. If your condition requires a longer stay, you are considered an inpatient.

In addition to surgery, outpatient care includes other treatments, such as substance abuse treatment; mental health care; community health education; fitness activities; a vast battery of diagnostic tests from complete blood counts to views of the digestive tract, urinary system or lungs through a small, lighted tube with a camera; and a procedure called lithotripsy to pulverize stones in the body (such as gallstones or kidney stones).

The high-tech advantage

The ongoing shift to outpatient care would not have been possible without significant scientific and technological advances – such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computerized tomography), and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) machines which are now constantly in use to perform outpatient diagnostic and preoperative procedures. Learn more.

Less invasive procedures.

Rapid advances in minimally-invasive techniques have helped to fuel the change. Minimally-invasive surgical techniques allow doctors to perform surgeries with a minimum of cutting, pain and recovery time for the patient. In many areas doctors have found that they can do as much or more on an outpatient basis as they once could do only on an inpatient basis.

Improved medications.

Because of better antibiotics, doctors can treat infectious diseases more and more on an outpatient basis. And other drugs, such as ACE inhibitors and calcium-channel blockers, allow more outpatient treatment of heart disease.

New drugs that more effectively treat mental illness are yet another example. Disorders such as depression and schizophrenia can be treated without having to admit the patient for long stays in the hospital. Advances in pharmacology are one reason health care providers need fewer and fewer inpatient beds.

Outpatient care also means you're better off being a patient today than ever before.

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Convenient, free parking is available at all CHRISTUS Hospital—St. Elizabeth and St. Mary locations, and complimentary valet parking is available at St. Elizabeth's main entrance.