Ambulatory and day surgery in the “5.0 hospital”: organization, data, and the surgical workforce

Background: Although often regarded as “minor surgery,” ambulatory and day surgery have evolved into strategic domains of contemporary surgical care where organizational efficiency, technological innovation, and workforce sustainability converge. Within the emerging paradigm of the “5.0 hospital,” these settings provide an ideal environment for integrating robotics, artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and data-driven clinical governance into resilient and sustainable healthcare systems. Methods: This narrative review re-elaborates the scientific content presented during the joint ACOI (Italian Society of Hospital Surgeons)–SICADS (Italian Society of Ambulatory and Day Surgery) session, “Beyond Surgery. The Professionals of the Future: New Organisational Models, Digitalisation of Surgical Pathways, and New Competencies,” held at the 44th ACOI National Congress (Palermo, Italy, 24–27 May 2026). The complete session transcript served as the primary source and was synthesized according to the standardized editorial methodology described by Molteni et al. Results: The session followed the surgical pathway from national clinical governance to hospital management, departmental organization, operating-room practice, early-career surgical training, and healthcare networks. Across all topics, a consistent message emerged: technological innovation creates value only when embedded within organized, data-driven systems. Two cross-cutting themes unified the discussion: structured data as the foundation of clinical governance and workforce sustainability. Conclusions: Ambulatory and day surgery should be regarded as strategic, high-volume public surgery. Their future depends not on technology alone but on its integration into organized, data-driven, and sustainable healthcare systems capable of improving quality of care while supporting the next generation of surgeons.