[Why is surgery cancelled? causes, implications, and bibliographic antecedents].
OBJECTIVE
To identify the causes of cancellation of scheduled surgical procedures at a General Hospital and review of the literature.
The record of scheduled surgery was reviewed at 1 year. We identified frequency of cancellation and the three main sources including hospital, medical team, and patient.


RESULTS
Scheduled surgery record registered 3,627 surgical procedures; 863 were cancelled. The last 4 months of the year registered the majority of cases. Nearly 60% of suspensions were in Orthopedics (26.6%), General Surgery (22.13%), Gynecology (17.84%), and Ophthalmology (10.06%). Forty percent of total cancelled surgery was related with patient causes, 30% to hospital sources, and 29.8% to deficiencies of the medical team.


CONCLUSIONS
Rate of scheduled surgery cancellation was 23.79%. It was most important during the last 4 months of the year. Orthopedics, General Surgery, Gynecology, and Ophthalmology were the main specialties involved. Sources of cancellation were identified as patient causes, in first place; hospital deficiencies and medical team reasons shared the second place. Situational diagnosis of each hospital and a presurgical assessment clinic reduce rate of cancelled surgical procedures.
Aguirre-Córdova
Juan Francisco
JF
Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Darío Fernández Fierro, ISSSTE, Valle de México.
Chávez-Vázquez
Guadalupe
G
Huitrón-Aguilar
Gustavo Alfonso
GA
Cortés-Jiménez
Norma
N
D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D006801:Humans; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review