Cancellation of Surgeries: Integrative Review

Purpose To analyze cancellations of surgeries and identify evidence‐based interventions to address this issue. Design Integrative literature review. Methods An integrative literature search was conducted in four databases: CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane and included literature sources dated January 2011 to January 2016. The complete list of search terms consisted of the following: ambulatory surgery, day surgery center, elective surgical procedure, elective operation, elective surgery, schedule, access to care, surgery cancellation, operation cancellation, and surgery delay. Findings Twenty‐three literature sources were identified. Evidence included one randomized controlled trial and multiple studies. Causes of cancellations were classified into three categories: hospital‐related reasons, patient‐related reasons, and surgeon‐related reasons. Evidence confirmed most cancellations were avoidable. Conclusions Cancellation of scheduled surgeries has a significant impact on patients’ health, resources, cost, and quality of care. It is difficult to devise a solution without understanding the cause of cancellations.