Objective To systematically analyze the relevant research on quality management evaluation indicators for day surgery at home and abroad, and provide a basis and reference for constructing a more scientific, systematic, and comprehensive quality management evaluation indicator system for day surgery. Methods PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, OVID, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, and Wanfang were systematically searched. The retrieval time limit was from databases establishment to April 1, 2025. The data related to the evaluation indicators of quality management in day surgery were extracted and integrated for analysis. Results Finally, 73 articles were included, including 49 Chinese articles and 24 English articles. Based on the 3-dimensional quality structure model, the indicators were divided into 3 primary indicators (structure, process, and result), 15 secondary indicators, and 49 tertiary indicators. There were 4 secondary indicators and 16 tertiary indicators related to structure. The top 3 tertiary indicators with the highest number of related studies were establishing admission criteria for day surgery patients, establishing admission criteria for day surgery specialists, establishing clinical pathways for day surgery, and establishing emergency protocols for day surgery. There were 7 secondary indicators and 22 tertiary indicators related to the process. The top 3 tertiary indicators with the highest number of related studies were the implementation rate of discharge follow-up, completion rate of patient satisfaction survey, and completion rate of preoperative condition assessment. There were 4 secondary indicators and 11 tertiary indicators related to the results. The top 3 tertiary indicators with the highest number of related studies were rate of postoperative complication, rate of reaching the standard for patient satisfaction scores, and rate of unplanned readmission. Conclusion The current quality management evaluation indicator system for day surgery in China is still in the exploration and development stage, and lacks a complete, unified, and standardized indicator system.
