Day Patient and Outpatient Information

You are considered a day patient or outpatient if you are coming to the Heart Institute on the same day as your procedure.

If you are a day patient but live a considerable distance from Ottawa, you should check with your doctor to see if you should stay close to the Heart Institute on the night of your discharge. Accommodation arrangements should be made in advance if this is the case.

On the morning of your procedure, you will come to the Reference Centre Day Unit located on the first floor of the Heart Institute. This is a 19-bed, short stay unit that is open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Visitors are permitted during your stay in the Day Unit. The nurses may ask your visitors to leave from time to time in order to provide care. It is important that a family member to leave a phone number with the staff of the Day Unit where they can be contacted, if they do not plan to stay. A nurse will call the identified contact person to inform them when the procedure is finished and to provide an update on the patient's condition, as well as a tentative discharge time.
 
Telephones are not available to individual patients. Staff nurses are prepared to make phone calls to a family member, if necessary. The use of cell phones and other mobile electronic devices is not permitted within the Day Unit.

To inquire about the status of a patient in the Day Unit, call 613-761-4770.