Implementation of evidence-based recommendations to reduce elective surgical case cancellations

Cancellation of elective surgical cases leads to a waste of resources, financial burden, patient dissatisfaction, extended hospital stay, and unnecessary repetition of preoperative preparations.

The objective of this study was to identify, analyze and manage the causes of cancellation of elective surgical cases in our institution.

This quality improvement study compared preoperative cardiovascular event and case cancellation rates before and after implementing the practice of perioperative cardiovascular risk management. The study included the following phases: (1) Screening and identification of the most important reason for case cancellation; (2) Developing the strategy and internal protocol based on the international recommendations to minimize perioperative cardiovascular risk; (3) Implementing the internal protocol and monitoring preoperative cardiovascular events and case cancellation rate.

We achieved a reduction in surgical case cancellation rate: 83 (3.7%) out of 2242 in 2018 and 28 (1.1%) out of 2538 cases in 2019 were cancelled after the patient had been delivered to the operating room area.

Screening and identification of gaps in perioperative care as well as implementation of evidence-based recommendations can significantly improve the quality of patient care. In our case, implementing the internal protocol of cardiovascular risk management in perioperative period resulted in a reduction of preoperative hypertensive crisis, myocardial ischemia, heart rhythm disorder rates and in subsequently reduction in case cancellation rate.