Ambulatory or Walking Status in Health Care

The word “ambulatory” refers to walking. It is used quite often in medical settings to refer to a variety of healthcare concerns. It’s also used often in medical research, as a factor that influences medical outcomes, quality of life, and how treatment decisions are made.¹

If you’re having outpatient surgery, it’s ambulatory. Once you’re able to walk after surgery, you’re upgraded to ambulatory status.² 

Even the cane or walker you use is called an ambulatory assistive device. Being ambulatory is a factor in the prognosis (outlook) of stroke and other diagnoses, like whether people in intensive care units can go home.³

This article discusses what ambulatory means when describing people and objects in the healthcare system.

What Does Ambulatory Mean?

The word “ambulatory” means “related to walking” or ambulation. It is used in several different ways in medical care situations. It can refer to a type of patient, a care setting, what a patient is able to do (namely, walk), or the equipment that can be used while walking.

When used to describe a care setting, as in ambulatory care, it refers to outpatient services. These are services that a patient walks into and out of as an outpatient rather than spending the night as an inpatient. For example, you might have ambulatory surgery, which is also called outpatient surgery.⁴

What Is an Ambulatory Patient?

Healthcare professionals may refer to a patient as ambulatory. This means the patient is able to walk around. After surgery or medical treatment, a patient may be unable to walk unassisted. Once the patient is able to do so, they are considered ambulatory. A doctor may ask a nurse or therapist, “Is the patient ambulatory?”

The term ambulatory patients may also refer to outpatients who are being treated in ambulatory care settings rather than as hospital inpatients.

It is a synonym for outpatients, such as those who might come for diabetes-related blood tests.⁵ They are coming to the care setting, receiving care, and leaving the same day rather than spending the night.

In this case, the patients may or may not be able to walk and they may even need a wheelchair. Ambulatory simply means the patient is not confined to the hospital.

Ambulatory Care

Ambulatory care or ambulatory treatment refers to outpatient services that do not require a hospital stay. They return home the same day.

Ambulatory care settings may be a department within a hospital or at a facility outside of the hospital, with staff sometimes described as ambulatory care nurses or social workers. These settings can include:

• Doctor’s offices where a patient comes to see a doctor
• Clinics including primary care, specialty care, and mental health
• Urgent care centers
• Emergency departments in a hospital are ambulatory settings, although a patient may then be admitted and become an inpatient.
• Ambulatory surgery centers
• Same-day surgery centers in hospitals
• Dialysis centers
• Day treatment centers
• Vision care
• Dental care

Ambulatory Medical Devices

Ambulatory medical devices are those that are mobile and that a patient can wear or use on an outpatient basis or at home. Ambulatory cardiac monitoring can be done with a wearable device.⁶

Another example is ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. A patient wears a portable blood pressure cuff for 24 hours while they go about their usual activities.

The results are synced to a computer for analysis of the data. This gives doctors have a clear picture of how his blood pressure changes throughout a normal day.⁷

With continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, a person performs dialysis on themselves a few times each week at home rather than going to a dialysis center.⁸ They can walk around while they are doing it, but are not confined to a clinic or hospital setting.

Ambulatory Assistive Devices

Ambulatory assistive devices are used to help people walk. They include canes, crutches, and walkers.

Summary

In health care, the word “ambulatory” typically means that a patient is able to walk, or it pertains to treatment or interventions (like wearable devices) that can be used in people who are ambulatory. It also can describe the type of care (like ambulatory testing), the type of facility, or the provider.

In medical studies, researchers often evaluate how ambulatory status (mobility) affects people with different health conditions, including stroke, seizure, or severe trauma, as they recover.

If your healthcare team uses the term ambulatory and you’re not sure exactly what is meant, be sure to ask. Your providers can explain how the term is used concerning your health or your treatments.