Outpatient vs. Ambulatory — What's the Difference?

Someone visiting a clinic or hospital without staying overnight.

Related to medical care for walking patients.

Receiving medical treatment with no inpatient stay.

Moving or walking, especially in a medical context.

Non-residential medical treatment.

Describing medical services for mobile individuals.

A patient who receives care without being admitted.

Pertaining to patients who can walk.

Pertaining to medical services that don't require admission.

The ambulatory (Latin: ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13th century ambulatories had been introduced in England and many English cathedrals were extended to provide an ambulatory.The same feature is often found in Indian architecture and Buddhist architecture generally, especially in older periods.

A patient who attends a hospital for treatment without staying there overnight

Of, relating to, or adapted for walking.

A patient whose treatment does not require an overnight stay in a hospital or clinic.

Capable of walking; not bedridden

Of or relating to outpatients or their care.

Designed for or available to patients who are not bedridden

(healthcare) A patient who receives treatment at a hospital or clinic but is not admitted overnight; a receiver of ambulatory care.

Moving about; itinerant.

(healthcare) Provided without requiring an overnight stay by the patient.

(Law) Relating to that which can be changed or revoked, as a will during the life of the testator.

A patient who does not reside in the hospital where he is being treated

An aisle around the back side of the chancel in a cathedral or other large church.

A covered place for walking, as in a cloister.

Of, relating to, or adapted to walking.

Able to walk about and not bedridden.

(medicine) Performed on or involving an ambulatory patient or an outpatient.

Accustomed to move from place to place; not stationary; movable.

(law) Not yet legally fixed or settled; alterable.

The round walkway encircling the altar in many cathedrals.

Any part of a building intended for walking in; a corridor.

Of or pertaining to walking; having the faculty of walking; formed or fitted for walking; as, an ambulatory animal.

Accustomed to move from place to place; not stationary; movable; as, an ambulatory court, which exercises its jurisdiction in different places.

Pertaining to a walk.

Not yet fixed legally, or settled past alteration; alterable; as, the dispositions of a will are ambulatory until the death of the testator.

A place to walk in, whether in the open air, as the gallery of a cloister, or within a building.

Able to walk about;

Able to walk or move around.

Able to walk or pertaining to medical care for walking patients.

Mostly, but it also includes services for patients who are mobile.

A patient who receives medical care without being admitted.

No, outpatients typically go home the same day.

Yes, if it's for a patient who can walk and doesn't require admission.

Yes, it often implies the patient's ability to walk.

Yes, through regular outpatient visits.

Yes, after discharge from inpatient care.

Rarely, as ambulatory implies mobility and outpatient status.

Minor surgeries, consultations, and follow-up treatments.

Mostly, but they can also be in specialized ambulatory centers.

It can be, especially for mobile patients.

Often, especially after procedures or consultations.

Outpatient surgery doesn't require admission, while ambulatory surgery is for patients who are mobile.

Not typically, as ambulatory care is often planned and non-emergency.