Short notice cancellations - an insight into Irish surgical waiting lists.

Autor: O'Riordan B; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland. b.oriordan5@gmail.com.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland. b.oriordan5@gmail.com., Reynolds IS; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland., Hechtl D; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland., Lecot FP; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland., Arya S; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland., Geoghegan J; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland., Kennelly R; Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland.; Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Irish journal of medical science [Ir J Med Sci] 2023 Apr; Vol. 192 (2), pp. 807-810. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jun 01.
DOI: 10.1007/s11845-022-03026-6
Abstrakt: Background: The reasons underlying prolonged waiting lists for surgery in Ireland are multifactorial. Patient-related factors including non-attendances contribute in part to the current waiting times.
Aims: To determine the rate of short notice cancellation for day case surgery in a model 2 HSE hospital over a 1-month period and to implement an intervention to try and reduce the rate of cancellation.
Methods: The cancellation rate was documented over a 1-month period in the hospital. An intervention was then implemented, involving a phone call to the patient from a member of the surgical team to attempt to reduce the cancellation rate. Cancellations were re-audited after the implementation of the phone intervention.
Results: The initial audit revealed a cancellation rate of 39.7% during the first month prior to implementation of the phone intervention. A phone call intervention from a member of the surgical team was associated with a decrease in cancellations from 39.7 to 14.6% (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: While cancellations remained high even after our intervention, a simple phone call was effective and more than halved our cancellation rate. Future efforts need to focus on increasing awareness of patient responsibility for attending scheduled appointments and procedures.
(© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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