ABSTRACT
Rigorous preoperative assessment is required prior to any general anaesthetic. As outpatient intervention avoids general anaesthesia, such assessment is not required and furthermore, patients considered high risk for anaesthesia (elderly, obese, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, etc.) present little additional risk with short outpatient interventional procedures. It is tempting to decline outpatient intervention in highly anxious patients, but experience has shown that the ability to predict the minority of patients who turn out to be unsuitable (i.e. unable to tolerate, dissatisfaction with experience, etc.) is poor. In general, a better approach is to offer all patients choice, and provide accurate written and verbal information about the entire outpatient hysteroscopic experience.
