Cancellation on the Intended Day of Surgery

.. Objective: To find out reasons for cancellation of operation on the day of surgery in the Surgical Department of Civil Hospital Karachi. Design: Observational study. Setting & Period: All operation theatre bookings of the Civil Hospital Surgical Department from July 2010 to October 2010 have been studied by using the ‘daily operating theatre lists’. Frequency of cancellation, type of surgeries cancelled and their reasons studied. Results: Out of total 455 cases, 97 (21%) surgical operations were cancelled on the day of surgery, highlighting patients’ non-compliance as a major contributing reason, followed by the lack of operating room time and other causes. Among the less contributing factors were patient expiry on table, failure to administer anesthesia and delay in operation due to exams (engagement of patients in undergraduate exam in the college). Conclusions: Patients non-compliance is a major challenging factor that causes a large number of cancellations of operations in the Civil Hospital Karachi.