Cancellation of elective surgical procedures, a single royal medical services hospital experience

Abstract EN

Objectives: To determine the percentage, reasons and possible suggested measures to reduce the rate of cancellation of elective surgical operations.

Methods: This descriptive study was performed at Queen Alia military hospital (QAH) in the period between January 1st 2011 and January 1st 2012 by collecting and analyzing the daily records of cancelled elective operations.

Results: A total of 7163 patients were scheduled for elective surgeries during the study period, 6601 patients had their operation performed at the scheduled time.

553 patients had their operation cancelled at the day of surgery and the percentage of cancellations was 7.72%.

The highest number of cancellation was observed in December (70 cases out of 646 scheduled cases 10.84%) whereas February had the lowest number of cancellations (23 cases out of 572 scheduled cases.

4.02%).

General surgery and orthopaedics had the highest number of cancellation (186 and 177 respectively) whereas ENT and maxillofacial surgery had the least number of cancellations (38 and 10 respectively).

The most common causes for cancellations were patient-related, around 68% of the cancellations were due to patients’ absence and their medical fitness for surgery at the day of planned operation, and the other causes of cancellations were due to lack of time (overbooked list) or lack of necessary equipments and devices.

Conclusions: The percentage of surgical cancellation at our hospital is relatively low; most of the cancellations could be easily avoided by efficient planning, proper communication with the patients and proper preoperative medical assessment