Key result
The surgical cancellation rate for elective procedures at a Rwandan referral hospital was 24.3%, primarily driven by surgeon-related issues and workup-related causes.
Why the study?
Surgery cancellation is a challenging and costly event causing operating theatre inefficiency as well as psychological and financial burdens, but its incidence and reasons at a Rwandan hospital were not established.
Cross-Sectional (n=736)
No
Surgical cancellation rates at a Rwandan military hospital were high (24.3%), primarily driven by surgeon-related and workup-related causes, highlighting the need for improved scheduling and preoperative assessment.
Surgical cancellations disrupt theatre efficiency in resource-limited settings; leaves open targeted quality improvement strategies.
Background: Surgery cancellation is a challenging and costly event resulting in operating theatre inefficiency and psychological and financial problems for the patients and their families. This study aimed to find out the incidence and reasons for surgical cancellation at a Rwandan hospital. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 736 patients' files obtained from theatre registry lists of surgical operations done from January to March 2017. The American Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) checklist for documenting cancelled surgical cases was used to establish the rate and reasons for cancellation. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage descriptive statistics. Results: Out of the 736 surgeries booked, 179 (24.3%) were cancelled as follows: Orthopedic and general surgeries (28.2%) respectively, gynecology and obstetrics (27.4%), urology surgeries (15.5%), maxillofacial surgeries (15.9%), ENT (15.6%) and plastic surgeries (13.3%). Time constrain/long list (19.6%), acute change in medical status (10.6%), non-turn-up of the patient (8.4%), and abnormal lab findings (7.8%) were the most prevalent reasons. Conclusion: The surgical cancellation rate at the study hospital was 24%, increasing with the number of patients booked and the type of surgical procedure. A prospective study is required to gain more insight into the reason for cancellations, mostly amenable to mitigation measures.
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Uwera et al. (2021) conducted a cross-sectional in Elective surgery (n=736). Surgical cancellation was evaluated on Incidence of surgical cancellation. The surgical cancellation rate for elective procedures at a Rwandan referral hospital was 24.3%, primarily driven by surgeon-related issues and workup-related causes.
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