Waiting times for surgical procedures.
OBJECTIVE
Polls show that nearly two thirds of Canadians believe that waiting times prior to surgery have increased in recent years. A study was undertaken in Manitoba to determine whether public perceptions about long and increasing waits were valid.


METHODS
Using administrative data, waiting times for 10 types of surgery-ranging from coronary artery bypass surgery and mastectomy to cataract surgery and hernia repairs-were studied over a 5-year period.


RESULTS
Using each patient's preoperative visit to the surgeon as the beginning of the waiting time, median waiting times for most of the procedures studied were found to have, in fact, remained stable or fallen slightly over the period studied.


CONCLUSIONS
Further, an examination of waiting times for cataract surgery demonstrated that allowing surgeons to practice in both public and private arenas seems to be counterproductive to providing good public service.
Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
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DeCoster
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Carriere
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Peterson
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Walld
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MacWilliam
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008350:Manitoba; D008875:Middle Aged; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017150:Public Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists