Cancellation of elective operations on the day of intended surgery in a Hong Kong hospital: point prevalence and reasons.

Abstract

Of 6234 cases scheduled, 476 were cancelled, which yielded a point prevalence of 7.6%, with a 95% confidence interval of 7.0-8.3%. The highest number of cancellations occurred in patients scheduled for major general surgical procedures (n=94, 20%), major urological procedures (n=64, 13%), major orthopaedic surgery (n=38, 8%), and ultra-major cardiothoracic surgery (n=29, 6%). The most common category for cancellation was facility (73%), followed by work-up (17%), patient (10%), and surgeon (1%). No available operating room time due to overrun of the previous surgery was the most common reason for case cancellation (n=310). Compared to general surgery, the odds of no available operating time was significantly less in orthopaedics (odds ratio=0.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.17-0.39), otolaryngology (0.25; 0.13-0.46), neurosurgery (0.36; 0.16-0.70), paediatrics (0.53; 0.31-0.87), gynaecology (0.18; 0.11-0.29), ophthalmology (0.19; 0.07-0.41), and dentistry (0.10; 0.00-0.60). CONCLUSIONS. Case cancellations were mainly due to facility factors, such as no operating room time being available. The odds of having no operating room time available varied between surgical specialties.