Reasons for cancellation of 2933 surgeries scheduled between June 1, 2012 and Jan. 31, 2016
| Codes* | No. (%) of surgeries n = 2933 |
|---|---|
| Medical reasons | 257 (8.8) |
| Change in medical condition | 218 (7.4) |
| Change in medical condition after PSS | 159 (5.4) |
| Acute illness or condition < 24 h | 43 (1.5) |
| Change In medical condition > 24 h | 16 (0.5) |
| Insufficient workup | 19 (0.6) |
| Abnormal lab work | 16 (0.5) |
| Difficult anesthesia event | 1 (0.0) |
| Case aborted before anesthetic tarted | 1 (0.0) |
| Patient expired | 2 (0.1) |
| Patient-related reasons | 228 (7.8) |
| Patient refused procedure | 75 (2.6) |
| Patient unavailable | 56 (1.9) |
| Patient cancelled | 26 (0.9) |
| Patient did not show for surgery | 24 (0.8) |
| Patient did not adhere to surgical instructions | 47 (1.6) |
| Patient not NPO | 25 (0.8) |
| Patient noncompliant | 16 (0.5) |
| Surgical instructions not followed by patient | 6 (0.2) |
| Administrative or structural reasons | 2448 (83.5) |
| Emergency case took place of scheduled surgery | 282 (9.6) |
| Emergency case from other service | 37 (1.3) |
| Emergency case from same service | 245 (8.4) |
| OR running late | 610 (20.8) |
| Previous case ran over booked time | 263 (9.0) |
| Insufficient time remaining | 213 (7.3) |
| Room running late because of computer delay | 1 (0.0) |
| Unexpected surgical complication from previous case | 133 (4.5) |
| QBP target volumes met | 2 (0.1) |
| Code gridlock called | 94 (3.2) |
| PSS — surgery cancellled | 1 (0.0) |
| Incomplete presurgical screening | 8 (0.3) |
| Incorrectly booked — surgeon’s office | 70 (2.4) |
| Standby patient cancelled | 486 (16.6) |
| Case substitution | 247 (8.4) |
| Equipment or resource unavailable | 28 (1.0) |
| No platelets or blood available | 4 (0.1) |
| Case cart unavailable | 1 (0.0) |
| Imaging unavailable | 1 (0.0) |
| Equipment broken or unavailable | 22 (0.8) |
| No bed | 406 (13.8) |
| No ICU bed | 6 (0.2) |
| No bed | 371 (12.6) |
| No step-down bed | 24 (0.8) |
| No recovery bed because of previous case | 5 (0.2) |
| Staff unavailable | 82 (2.8) |
| Other staff unavailable | 4 (0.1) |
| OR nursing staff unavailable | 24 (0.8) |
| Surgeon ill or not able to operate | 12 (0.4) |
| Surgeon unavailable | 27 (0.9) |
| Anesthesiologist late | 1 (0.0) |
| Anesthesiologist unavailable | 14 (0.5) |
| Surgeon’s decision | 50 (1.7) |
| Environmental crisis cancellation | 29 (1.0) |
| Other reasons not listed | 3 (0.1) |
| Surgery no longer required | 29 (1.0) |
| Already done | 18 (0.6) |
| Already done | 14 (0.5) |
| Already done as an emergency > 24 h | 3 (0.1) |
| Already done as an emergency < 24 h | 1 (0.0) |
| Room availability | 3 (0.3) |
ICU = intensive care unit; NPO = nothing by mouth (i.e., patient had recently consumed food or liquids); OR = operating room; PSS = presurgical screening; QBP = quality-based procedure.
↵* Codes are organized as 50 individual codes, regrouped into 28 groups and 3 overarching categories.