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- Title
Cancellations and delays of emergent orthopedic operations at a Canadian level 1 trauma centre.
- Authors
Denis, Antoine; Montreuil, Julien; Harvey, Edward J.; Berry, Gregory K.; Reindl, Rudolf; Bernstein, Mitchell
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Day-of surgery cancellation (DOSC) is considered to be a very inefficient use of hospital resources and results in emotional stress for the patient. To examine opportunities to minimize the incidence of preventable cancellations - an indicator of quality of care - we assessed the incidence of and reasons for DOSCs over 3 months among inpatients and outpatients at a trauma orthopedic service.<bold>Methods: </bold>This was a prospective study of 2 cohorts of patients, inpatients and outpatients, scheduled for emergent orthopedic surgery at a Canadian tertiary level 1 trauma centre from Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 2020. Patient demographic characteristics, injury characteristics, delays until surgery and reasons for DOSCs were recorded.<bold>Results: </bold>A total of 185 patients (100 males and 85 females with a mean age of 54 yr) were included in the study. There were 98 outpatients and 87 inpatients. Seventy-five (40%) of the scheduled procedures in the outpatient group and 34 (30%) of those in the inpatient group were cancelled. In both groups, more than 85% of the cancellations were because of prioritization of a more urgent orthopedic or nonorthopedic surgical case. The average operative delay for the outpatient group was 11.4 days, compared to 3.8 days for the inpatient group (p < 0.001).<bold>Conclusion: </bold>High DOSC rates were observed among both outpatients and inpatients. The main reason for delaying surgery was prioritization of a more urgent surgical case. Providing the orthopedic trauma service with a dedicated OR opened 6 days per week, along with extended hours of OR services to 1700 daily, might be effective at minimizing DOSCs.
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2022, Vol 65, Issue 3, pE382
- ISSN
0008-428X
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1503/cjs.009420