Purpose:

Surgery cancellations cause harm to patients, extra work for preoperative staff, and financial loss for organizations. Day of surgery cancellations are a widely used indicator for operative effectiveness, but there is a lack of knowledge concerning the effects of cancellations during earlier stages of a patient's preoperative waiting period. The purpose of this study was to measure the reasons, frequencies, and timing of elective surgery cancellations after scheduling.

Design:

Qualitative prospective follow-up study.

Methods:

Data were collected during a 2-month period in 13 operative specialties by a semistructured follow-up form and analyzed by inductive content analyses and statistical methods.

Findings:

Most of the cancellations occurred before the day of surgery and appeared because patients were not in a suitable condition for the planned operation or because of lack of organizational resources.

Conclusions:

More attention should be focused on patients' suitability and organizational resources in earlier stages of preoperative period.