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- Title
Case cancellations on the day of surgery: an investigation in an Australian paediatric hospital.
- Authors
Haana, Victoria; Sethuraman, Kannan; Stephens, Lisa; Rosen, Heather; Meara, John G.
- Abstract
Background: This study investigates case cancellations on the intended day of surgery (DOS) at a paediatric hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The hospital in Melbourne treats over 32 000 inpatients annually and handles both elective and emergency cases. Methods: The data for this paper were collected over a period of 12 months, from June 2004 to June 2005. The data were extracted retrospectively from the theatre computer system. A nurse researcher reviewed the full written details of all cancellations to clarify their cause and confirm the reasons for cancellation; the reasons for cancellation were then sorted into one of 14 groups. Results: There were 16 559 theatre bookings, and of these, 1198 (7.2%) were cancelled on the DOS. There was a mean of 3.28 cancellations of surgery on the intended day. The hospital-initiated postponements accounted for 18.5% of DOS cancellations. The top four reasons for cancellation accounted for 65% of all cancelled surgeries and were all patient initiated. Conclusions: There was also evidence that some specialties were more susceptible to DOS cancellation than others. The paper ends with proposals to reduce patient-initiated cancellations and directions for future research.
- Subjects
MELBOURNE (Vic.); VICTORIA; MEDICAL research; CHILDREN'S hospitals; SURGERY; COMPUTER systems
- Publication
ANZ Journal of Surgery, 2009, Vol 79, Issue 9, p636
- ISSN
1445-1433
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1445-2197.2009.05019.x