• Tauseef Ahmed, Mueenullah Khan, and Fauzia Anis Khan.
• Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, Pakistan.
• J Pak Med Assoc. 2009 Aug 1;59(8):547-50.

ObjectiveTo find the causes of operating room cancellation in patients attending preoperative anaesthesia clinic and scheduled for surgery at our institution.MethodsThis audit included all those patients who presented to the pre anaesthesia clinic with their surgeries planned in the main operating rooms of our hospital. The duration of this audit was two months. Cancelled cases were identified from the operating room lists and the reasons for cancellations were categorized into above mentioned four factors.ResultsFifty five (55) cancellations were identified; patient related factors (58%) were the most frequent cause followed by anaesthetic (22%), surgical (18.2%) and administrative (1.8%) factors. In patients related factors, most common causes appeared to be no-shows and patient's financial issues.ConclusionMost of the patient related factors were found to be uncontrollable. Anaesthetic related cancellations might be reduced with better communication between anaesthetist themselves and the surgeons. Overbooking of cases and other administrative issuescan be reduced with better organizational strategies

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