outpatient

Or out-pa·tient

[out-pey-shuhnt]

noun

1. a patient who receives treatment at a hospital, as in an emergency room or clinic, but is not hospitalized.

outpatient

/ ˈaʊtˌpeɪʃənt /

noun

1. a nonresident hospital patient Compare inpatient

Word History and Origins

Origin of outpatient¹

First recorded in 1705–15; out- + patient

Example Sentences

The ground floor would accommodate the outpatients' department with 12 consultant/exam rooms, day case facilities and an acute paediatric assessment unit.

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Under the critical access program, the federal government pays hospitals 101% of their costs for inpatient and outpatient services provided to Medicare patients.

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The judge added that he had underlying chronic medical conditions but could have been treated as an outpatient.

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Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, the regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said she received many calls related to outpatient cases of COVID-19 while on call over the Labor Day weekend.

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Despite more than four years of outpatient treatment at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and the local Macmillan centre in the Borders, Mr Owen's cancer had continued to spread.

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Related Words

• case 
• inmate 
• subject 
• sufferer www.thesaurus.com
• victim 

When To Use

What does outpatient mean?

Outpatient is commonly used as an adjective to describe treatment that does not require a patient to stay overnight at a hospital or other care facility—they come and leave on the same day.Outpatient is used in contrast with the term inpatient, which describes treatment that requires a patient to be admitted for at least one night.The terms are especially used in phrases like outpatient procedure (after which the patient can leave, instead of staying for further observation or treatment), inpatient treatment (which requires the patient to stay overnight at the hospital), and inpatient room (where such patients stay).Outpatient and inpatient are typically used in the context of hospitals, though inpatient can also refer to a patient who is admitted overnight at a mental health facility or other kind of clinic.Both terms can also be used as nouns referring to such patients.Example: I have an outpatient procedure scheduled for tomorrow morning, so I should be back home by the afternoon.