Incidence and Reasons for a Surgical Cancellation at a Hospital in Rwanda

Surgery cancellation is a challenging and costly event resulting in operating theatre inefficiency and psychological and financial problems for the patients and their families. This study aimed to find out the incidence and reasons for surgical cancellation at a Rwandan hospital.

A retrospective study was conducted on 736 patients' files obtained from theatre registry lists of surgical operations done from January to March 2017. The American Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) checklist for documenting cancelled surgical cases was used to establish the rate and reasons for cancellation. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage descriptive statistics.

Out of the 736 surgeries booked, 179 (24.3%) were cancelled as follows: Orthopedic and general surgeries (28.2%) respectively, gynecology and obstetrics (27.4%), urology surgeries (15.5%), maxillofacial surgeries (15.9%), ENT (15.6%) and plastic surgeries (13.3%). Time constrain/long list (19.6%), acute change in medical status (10.6%), non-turn-up of the patient (8.4%), and abnormal lab findings (7.8%) were the most prevalent reasons.

The surgical cancellation rate at the study hospital was 24%, increasing with the number of patients booked and the type of surgical procedure. A prospective study is required to gain more insight into the reason for cancellations, mostly amenable to mitigation measures.