Founded to promote high quality ambulatory surgery (aka: day surgery) worldwide, the IAAS provides an international multidisciplinary forum for sharing information on the practice and development of this innovative approach to providing surgical care. This is facilitated by a biennial congress and Advisory Assembly. Full Members also may send two delegates to the annual General Assembly meeting and on occasion, by invitation, other categories of member may attend this meeting (see Membership Details).
The IAAS can assist in establishing national ambulatory surgery associations by providing examples of international best practice. Issues frequently include, but are not limited to, re-imbursement comparison between inpatient and day surgery rates, required minimum standards for ambulatory surgery facilities, political strategies, etc. For those countries just beginning to develop ambulatory surgery, the IAAS can provide experienced international speakers for national meetings or invite influential national politicians to an IAAS congress.
Additionally, the IAAS can arrange visits to day surgery units in a wide range of countries for doctors, nurses, managers or politicians in order that they can learn at first hand the advantages of ambulatory surgery and how it is practiced in established units.
The IAAS lobbies, on behalf of its members, international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the European Union which in turn can influence national government policies. Members have a direct involvement with this process.
International guidelines continue to be developed by IAAS members. These guidelines are intended to set basic standards which can be incorporated into national discussions.
All members participate in the IAAS biennial ambulatory surgery international benchmarking activity. Members can use these benchmarking results in national discussions and negotiations to further ambulatory surgery in their respective country.
The peer reviewed and international journal, Ambulatory Surgery, is published in electronic format (www.ambulatorysurgery.org) by the IAAS. The editors encourage research and review articles as well as regular national reports from member countries. The latter are used to highlight the progress, successes and challenges associated with ambulatory surgery on a country by country basis.
The IAAS website (www.iaas-med.com)contains broad based information on the topic of ambulatory surgery. The website has links to members’ national ambulatory surgery websites and it can be used by members for a variety of purposes including advertising national conferences.
In summary, members gain from the IAAS the mutuality of support, involvement, standard setting and political influence unique to a worldwide international organization.