Outpatients

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who seek medical care and leave the facility on the same day without being admitted for an overnight stay
2. Patients receiving treatment or consultation at a medical facility who do not remain overnight as hospital residents
3. People who receive medical services at a healthcare center but return home the same day instead of staying overnight

Etymology: "Outpatients" is the plural of "outpatient", a compound of "out-" and "patient". The "patient" part is the older and more familiar element: it comes from Latin "patiens", the present participle of "pati", meaning "to suffer" or "to endure", so a patient was originally one who suffers. The "out-" is the Old English word "ūt", meaning "outside" or "away from", which has descended unchanged in sense through English. Put together, the compound describes a sick person who is treated at a hospital without being admitted to stay overnight, someone who is, in effect, outside the hospital's walls while under its care. The plural form, "outpatients", names the group of such people as a class, most often seen in phrases like "the outpatients' department".