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outpatient:
(plural: ‘outpatients‘; pronunciation: the letters ‘pa’ rhyme with the word “pay”, and the first ‘t’ is said with a ‘sh’ sound as in “she”; the opposite word in meaning: ‘inpatient’)
outpatients at a hospital, waiting to be seen
a sick person (patient) who is treated at a hospital but does not stay at the hospital, i.e. the patient consults the doctors/physicians, takes the treatment and goes away — does not stay at the hospital overnight or until the sickness is gone, and probably comes back for the treatment at a later date, usually when the sickness is not very serious or does not need continuous supervision of the doctors or nurses,
e.g.
When Robert fell down and sprained his ankle, he was treated at the hospital as an outpatient and after treatment he was sent away with the instructions that he should revisit the hospital two days later.
Most hospitals have separate departments for outpatients and inpatients, and treat patients depending on the seriousness of the disease.
outpatients at the outpatient department
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