Confirmatory Study on Costs and Time Loss from Pre-Anesthetic Consultations for Canceled Surgeries: A Retrospective Analysis at Hannover Medical School, Germany

Background/Objectives: Pre-anesthetic consultations (PACs), conducted by anesthesiologists, are an established procedure to assess individual perioperative risk in surgical patients. Cancellation of surgery leads to unnecessary PACs, which have to be avoided in times of staff shortage. The aim of the study is to evaluate the costs and time loss of unnecessary PACs at Hannover Medical School, a university hospital in Germany. Methods: All PACs conducted at Hannover Medical School in September 2023 were included in the analysis. The duration and associated costs were calculated based on electronic documentation. Results were compared to data from the university hospital Aachen in Germany. Results: In 4.2% of all PACs, no surgical or interventional procedure was subsequently performed and therefore no anesthesiologic services were required. Reasons for surgery or intervention cancellation included choosing a conservative approach over surgery or proceeding with surgery under local anesthesia without the presence of an anesthesiologist. The additional costs for unnecessary PACs were EUR 1612 which corresponded to 43.2 h of working time. Projected over a year, this would result in EUR 19,344 in costs and 518.4 h of time spent. In comparison to university hospital Aachen, we observed lower cancellation rates after PACs and a greater reliability of the planned interventions and surgeries. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the financial and time burden associated with these consultations was not substantial. To ensure optimal use of temporal and financial anesthesiologic resources, it is essential to avoid PACs for patients who will not undergo surgery or intervention.