[Cancellation of scheduled surgery at a university hospital: an exploratory study]

In spite of the extensive available literature on surgery patients' preparation and on the performance of surgeries, the focus given to the cancellation of the surgical act has been quite restricted. This study aims at identifying the number of scheduled and cancelled surgeries as well as the services that are mostly affected by such cancellations and was carried out in the surgery service of a big public university hospital located in the metropolitan area of Fortaleza, Ceará. The data were collected through surgery registration books, daily maps of surgery schedules and from the files of patients scheduled for surgery from September to December, 1996. The gathered data were analyzed quantitatively and introduced in charts. The results demonstrate that from the 1,145 surgeries programmed in the selected period, 379 (33%) had been cancelled. The mostly prejudiced services were General Surgery, Ophthalmology, Head and Neck Surgery, Trauma and Orthopedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Nephrology and Renal Transplant, and Proctology. Further investigation in this area in order to know the determinant causes of surgery cancellation as well as the participation of nursing in the study of this problem are necessary.