An outpatient usually gets treated at a hospital after a previous consultation. An inpatient is treated in the hospital only after the admissions process. An inpatient gets admitted into the hospital upon arrival, then they spend a period of time in the hospital until they are well enough to leave. They receive medical attention regularly by the attending physicians, nurses and other members of the hospital staff. Then a hospital record of the patients’ progress and laboratory results is then maintained by the hospital records department. Outpatients leave the hospital after seeing a doctor that works at that hospital, and unlike the inpatient, they do not spend a certain amount of time (days) at the hospital. Inpatients get discharged once they get released by their attending physician, and when done with their treatment. An outpatient does not have to be admitted for a longer stay in the hospital, and they get admitted in the hospital for a short procedure then released after treatment is completed (they come in to get a short procedure done that is not serious in nature). An inpatient requires them to stay in the hospital because their condition is more serious, and by staying in the hospital, they can get necessary treatment needed in order to get them back to being healthy again. The attending physician makes the decision on whether the patient is staying at the hospital or is best served as an outpatient (whether the injury or disease can be treated without being admitted into the hospital, then next course of action would be getting treated as an outpatient). Now if after examination the attending physician feels
