Abstract

Background and objectives: Cancellation of cases on the day of surgery carries significant burden on the patient’s health and the facility. The study aimed to evaluate the rate and causes of cancellation of surgeries.

Methods: In this observational study, 46,496 operations were studied between the years 2016 and 2017. The records of the main operation theater were examined at the Salmaniya Medical Complex to evaluate the rate and causes of cancellation of operations. Cancellation was defined as a surgery that was not performed after the patient entered the operation theater on the day of surgery.

Results: The prevalence of cancellation was 0.92%. The main cause for cancellation was high blood pressure (41.2%), followed by cardiac issues (7.3%) and upper respiratory tract infections (6.8%). Further, 3.7% of the cancelled surgery cases were due to lengthy list. While grouping the cancelled surgeries based on specialization, it was observed that the highest (28.9%) cancellation rate was in the general surgery. Poor utilization of the preoperative assessment clinic was observed in 9.3% cases in the main operation theater during the year 2017.

Conclusion: Despite the low cancellation rate in Salmaniya Medical Complex, as compared to other centers, improvement in the preoperative care and assessment would further reduce the cancellation rate significantly.

Keywords: Cancellation, Salmaniya Medical Complex, preoperative care, surgery, operation theatre