"Factors affecting cancellation of elective operation on the day of proposed surgery in a tertiary care hospital: a prospective, cross-sectional studyâ€

After obtaining approval from theinstitutional ethics committee this study will be conducted at Deen DayalUpadhyay Hospital (DDUH), which is one of the largest tertiary care GovernmentHospital in West Delhi. It has 640 beds (as on 11 august 2017) and performsboth emergency and elective surgeries. The Operating room in the  hospital are serving all specialtiesincluding general surgery, ear, nose, and throat, Ophthalmology, gynecology,orthopedics, plastic surgery, and neurosurgery. All the elective orthopaedicand gynaecologic cases are performed in Main OT-1 while all the elective Ear,Nose and Throat, Eye and General Surgery cases are performed in Main OT-2.

This will be a prospective, crosssectional study of all types of elective surgical procedures except plasticsurgery and neurosurgery. Data will be collected prospectively for 06 months.

We will study the rate and reasons for cancellationof elective cases on the day of scheduled surgery in the Main OT-1 and MainOT-2 located in the main OT complex of DDUH which has total strength of 08operating theatres.

Exclusion criteria:

Procedures that did not require presenceof an anaesthetist will be excluded.

Anycase posted as an emergency case outside the OT list will be excluded.

Definition:

A posted case will be defined as a casescheduled in the elective surgery OT list, which is submitted to the respectiveoperation theatre on the last working day before the day of proposed surgery.Any supplementary list provided on the morning of surgery will also be includedin the database.

Acancelled case will be defined as a case that has been scheduled in OT list andhas not been operated on the day of proposed surgery.

 Causesof cancellation will be divided into following categories:

1.Patient related factors which include patient “no show,†patient’s refusal tosign consent form, noncompliance of preoperative orders by the patient anddeath prior to the date of the operation etc.

2.Preoperative preparation causes such as the need for further optimization,further investigation, abnormal investigation reports or change in thetreatment plan, change in medical status etc.

3.Facility related factors including lack of OT time; no ICU beds; unavailabilityof equipment, implants; staff administrative errors such as incorrect booking,surgery done as an emergency; non-availability of anaesthesist, surgeon ortechnical staff etc.

4.Other causes as per database.

 Datawill be collected from OT lists, operation theatre registers and patientmedical records and will be analyzed statistically.