The Rate and Causes of Elective Surgeries Cancellation: A Report From the North of Iran

Abstract

Objectives: Day of surgery (DOS) cancellation is an unfortunate situation that affects both patients and hospitals. Cancellation of elective surgeries as a strong indicator for evaluating the management efficacy and quality of care offered by hospital services is associated with several unfavorable consequences. The present study aimed at investigating the rate and causes of elective surgery cancellation in an academic referral hospital. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was performed at Al-Zahra hospital, an academic center in the North of Iran, during 2018-2019. All scheduled cases for elective surgeries were prospectively enrolled in this study. Then, complete data were collected and recorded from DOS canceled cases, including the type of surgery, age, ASA class, and the reason for cancellation. Results: In general, 82 elective surgeries were canceled (3.3%) during the mentioned period. Among them, hysterectomy was the most canceled one (51.2%) and the lack of intensive care unit (ICU) beds (22%) and the patient’s clinical status changes (20.7%) significantly above 60 (P=0.011) and ASA class III (P=0.001) were the main causes in this regard. Conclusions: To improve operating room (OR) efficiency, great attempts should be made to eliminate the number of DOS cancellations through short intervals between preoperative visits and DOS, and to expand the ICU ward.

Keywords

• academic hospital
• elective surgery
• cancellation