Cancellations of elective surgeries in a teaching hospital: causes and statistics

• Published in: Enfermería global Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 310 - 321
• Main Authors: Araújo, Patrícia Ferreira Cavalcante de Sousa, do Nascimento, Joice Silva, Azedo, Shirlane Priscilla Barbosa de Melo, Xavier, Suênia Mesquita, Costa, Isabel Karolyne Fernandes, de Araújo, Gabriela de Sousa Martins Melo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Murcia Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia 01-07-2020
• Subjects: Communication; Elective surgery; Human resources; Medical research; Physiology; Quality; Surgery; Teaching hospitals; Rio Grande do Norte Brazil
• ISSN: 1695-6141
• DOI: 10.6018/eglobal.396911

Objective: To investigate the suspension rates and reasons for cancellation of elective surgery in a teaching hospital in Rio Grande do Norte. Methods: A descriptive, retrospective, quantitative study, with documentary analysis of the records filed in the computerized system of the Surgical Center unit of Onofre Lopes University Hospital, from April 2015 to April 2016. Results: Of the 8.622 (100%) scheduled surgeries for the surveyed period, 74.2% were performed and 25.8% canceled. Among the canceled surgeries (2.227), most cancellations were made by General Surgery (37.5%) and Urology (21.6%). The main reasons for cancellations were included in the categories related to the following aspects: unit's organization (34.4%); related to human resources (27.1%); patient-related (6.5%); related to materials and equipment (6.2%), without justification (5.5%) and conditional surgery (0.3%). Conclusions: The study identified the cancellations causes of elective surgeries in a teaching hospital, contributing to the improvement of professional performance. This may contribute to reduce the number of suspensions, considering that most reasons for cancellation are preventable.