• Elina Turunen, Merja Miettinen, Leena Setälä, and Katri Vehviläinen-Julkunen.
• J. Perianesth. Nurs. 2019 Feb 1; 34 (1): 97-107.

PurposeSurgery 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.DesignQualitative prospective follow-up study.MethodsData 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.FindingsMost 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.ConclusionsMore attention should be focused on patients' suitability and organizational resources in earlier stages of preoperative period.Copyright © 2018 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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