An audit of the Day-of-Surgery Cancellation of Scheduled Surgical Procedures in Sagamu, Nigeria

Authors

  • O M Fatungase
  • O A Sogebi
  • C C Nwokoro
  • A A Oyelekan

Keywords:

Anaesthesia, Clinical audit, Elective Surgery, Hospital Administration, Procedure termination, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Timely performance of scheduled surgical procedures may be an indirect method of assessing the quality of surgical services in a hospital.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the rate and the reasons for day-of-surgery cancellation of elective surgical procedures.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria to audit the type of surgery and the reasons for the cancellation of procedure among patients scheduled for elective surgical procedures.

Results: A total of 1,324 patients were scheduled for elective surgeries during the period of audit and 268 (20.2%) were cancelled on the day of surgery. One hundred and seventy-four of the 268 (65.0%) cancellations were avoidable while 94 (35.0%) cancellations were unavoidable. The reasons for the cancellation of surgeries included patient-related factors (35.0%), unfavourable pre-operative clinical evaluation (31.0%), facility-based factors (28.0%) and surgeon-related factors (6.7%).

Conclusion: The day-of-surgery cancellation rate was 20.2%, and the three leading causes of cancellation of elective surgeries in Sagamu included patient-related factors, unfavourable pre-operative clinical evaluation and inadequacies of hospital resources.

Author Biographies

O M Fatungase

Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care,
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu,
Ogun State. Nigeria.
Telephone: +2348034075061

O A Sogebi

Department of Surgery,
Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences,
Olabisi Onabanjo University,
Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria.

C C Nwokoro

Department of Surgery, 
Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences, 
Olabisi Onabanjo University, 
Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria.

A A Oyelekan

Department of Surgery, 
Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences, 
Olabisi Onabanjo University, 
Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria.

References

Garg R, Bhalitra AR, Anand R. Reasons for cancellation of cases on the day of surgery-A Prospective Study. Indian J Anaesth. 2009; 53(1): 35-39.

Zafar A, Mufti TS, Griffin S, Ahmed S. Cancelled elective General Operations in Ayub Teaching Hospital. J Ayub Med Coll Abbullabad 2007; 19(3): 64-66.

Robb WB, O’Sullivan MJ, Brannigan AE, Bouchier-Hayes DJ. Are elective surgical operations cancelled due to increasing medical admissions? Irish J Med Sci 2004; 173(3): 129. DOI 10.1007/BF03167925

Kolawole IK, Bolaji BO. Reasons for cancellation of elective surgery in Ilorin. Niger J Surg Res 2002; 4(1-2): 28-33.

Chalya PL, Gilyoma JM, Mabula JB, Simbila S, Ngayomela IH, Chandika AB, et al. Incidence, causes and pattern of cancellation of elective surgical operations in a University Teaching Hospital in the Lake Zone, Tanzania. Afr Health Sci 2011; 11(3): 438-443.

Ojo EO, Ihezue CH. An audit of day case cancellations in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital Based Day Case Unit. East Cent Afr J Surg 2008; 13(2): 150-153.

Seim AR, Fagerhaug T, Ryene SM, Curran P, Saether CD. Causes of cancellation of surgery at two major University Hospitals. Surg Innov 2009; 16: 173-180.

Rai M, Pandit JJ. Day of surgery cancellation after nurse led pre-assessment in an elective surgical centre: the first 2 years. Anesthesia 2003; 58: 692-699.

Sultan N, Rashid A, Abbas SM. Reasons for cancellation of elective cardiac surgery at Prince Sultan Cardiac Centre, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Heart Assoc 2012; 24: 29-34.

Ebirim LN, Buowar DY, Ezike HA. Causes of cancellation of elective surgical operations at a University Teaching Hospital. J Med Med Sci 2012; 3(5): 297-301.

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.

Overdyk FJ, Harvey SC, Fishman RL, Shippey F. Successful strategies for improving operating room efficiency at academic institutions. Anesth Analg 1998; 86(4): 896-906.

Ramyil VM, Dakum NK, Kidmas AT, Opaluwa AS, Songden ZD, Azer T. Reasons for day case surgery cancellation in Jos. Niger J Surg 2004: 10(1): 17-20.

Macario A. Are your hospital operating rooms “efficient”? A Scoring system with eight performance indicators. Anesthesiol 2006; 105(2): 237-240.

Trentman TL, Mueller JT, Fassett SL, Dormer CL, Weinmeister KP. Day of surgery cancellation in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A One-year Review. J Anesth Clin Res 2010; 1(3): 1-4.Doi: 10.4172/2155.

Argo JL, Vick CC, Graham LA, Itani KM, Bishop MJ, Hawn MT. Elective surgical case cancellation in the Veterans Health Administration System: Identifying areas of improvement. Am J Surg 2009: 198(5): 600-606.

Dakum NK, Ramyil VM, Misauno MA, Ojo OE, Ogwuche EI, Sani AA. Reasons for cancellation of urologic day care surgery. Niger Surg Res 2006; 8(1-2): 30-33.

El-Bushra AD, Mohamed IM, Awadalla AM, Mohamed YB, Salah EM. Cancelled elective surgical operations at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan. Sudan Med J 2008; 44(1,2&3): 56-61.

Jonnalagodda R, Walrond ER, Hariharan S, Walrond M, Prasad C. Evaluation of the reasons for cancellations and delays of surgical procedures in a developing country Int J Clin Pract 2005; 59(6): 716-720.

Parsa P, Sweitzer B, Small SD. The contribution of a preoperative evaluation to patient safety in high-risk surgical patients: A pilot Study. Anesth Analg. 2004; 100: 5-14.

Hussain AM, Khan FA. Anaesthetic reasons for cancellation of elective surgical inpatients on the day of surgery in a teaching hospital. J Pak Med Association 2005; 55: 374-378.

Dix P, Howell S. Survey of cancellation rate of hypertensive patients undergoing anesthesia and elective surgery. Br J Anaesth 2001: 86: 789-790.

Downloads

Published

2016-12-20

Issue

Section

Articles