Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 27:12:25.
doi: 10.1186/s13037-018-0171-3. eCollection 2018.

Incidence and causes of cancellations of elective operation on the intended day of surgery at a tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia

Melaku Desta #  1 , Addissu Manaye #  2 , Abiot Tefera  2 , Atalay Worku  2 , Alemitu Wale  2 , Alemlanchi Mebrat  2 , Negesso Gobena  3
Affiliations

Incidence and causes of cancellations of elective operation on the intended day of surgery at a tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia

Melaku Desta et al. Patient Saf Surg. .

Abstract

Background: Elective surgical case cancellation refers to any elective surgical case that is the list on the day prior to surgery but not operated upon as scheduled. Case cancellation has a major cause of psychological trauma to patients and their families. Despite little is known in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess incidence and reasons of cancellations of elective operation on the intended day of surgery at tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia.

Methods: A prospective hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in a tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia among 146 participants. A self-administered questionnaire with an observatory checklist was used for collecting data from the anesthetist, nurse, and surgeons.

Result: In this study, 462 patients were scheduled for elective surgical operations. Among those, nearly almost one-third 146 (31.6%) of the operations were cancelled and 316 (68.4%) patients were operated on their planned date. The most common reason for cancellation were surgeon related (35.8%), patient related (28.7%), management related (21.2%) and anesthesia related factors (14. 4%). The cancellation was mainly due to improper scheduling (20.5%%), unavailability of surgeons (8.9%), unavailability of oxygen and blood (8%) and equipment (5.5%). Orthopedic (28.8%) and general surgery (17.1%) were the commonest cancelled cases.

Conclusion: The cancellation rate in our academic medical center remains high. Improper scheduling, unavailability of surgeons, medical illness, and unavailability of operating room equipment were the commonest reason for the cancellation of elective operation. Most cancellations were preventable. For this, proper preoperative assessment, proper scheduling, fulfilling necessary operating room equipment's and cross-matched blood by the hospital and other stakeholders, early clear communication with operating room team like surgeons was recommended.

Keywords: Cancellation; Elective surgery; Ethiopia; Operating theatre.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The study protocol was reviewed and approved by Hawassa University Research Institutional review board. Official letter of cooperation was obtained from College of Medicine and Health Science to tertiary refferal medical center and permission was secured from the medical center clinical director. All study participants were informed that they have right not to participate in the study or stop the interview at any time they want if that was their choice. Written consent was obtained from all participants prior to interview. All information obtained in the study was stored confidential.Not applicable.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Specific causes of cancellation of elective surgery in at a tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia, March 1–20, 2018
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cases cancelled among elective surgery in each department at a tertiary referral academic medical center in Ethiopia, March 1–20, 2018
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ebirim LN, Buowari DY, Ezike H. Causes of cancellation of elective surgical operations at a University Teaching Hospital. J Med Med Sci. 2012;3(5):297–301.
    1. Argo JL, Vick CC, Graham LA, Itani KM, Bishop MJ, Hawn MT. Elective surgical case cancellation in the Veterans Health Administration system: identifying areas for improvement. Am J Surg. 2009;198(600):6. - PubMed
    1. Schofield WN, Rubin GL, Piza M, Lai YY, Sindhusake D, Fearnside MR, et al. Cancellation of operations on the day of intended surgery at a major Australian referral hospital. Med J Aust. 2005;182(12):612–615. - PubMed
    1. Kaddoum R, Fadlallah R, Hitti E, El-Jardali F, El Eid G. Causes of cancellations on the day of surgery at a Tertiary Teaching Hospital. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16:259. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1475-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abeeleh MA, Tareef TM, Hani AB, Albsoul N, Samarah OQ, ElMohtaseb MS, et al. Reasons for operation cancellations at a teaching hospital: prioritizing areas of improvement. Ann Surg Treat Res. 2017;93(2):65–69. doi: 10.4174/astr.2017.93.2.65. - DOI - PMC - PubMed