Same-day Cardiac Surgery Cancellation

Cardiac Surgery Cancellation at a Large UK Centre and Patient Satisfaction Survey - Quality Improvement Study

The investigators prospectively reviewed all same-day cancellations of elective and urgent in-patient adult cardiac surgical procedures from August 2017 to March 2018. Patients were divided into two groups: cancelled (C) and not cancelled (NC). Qualitative patient satisfaction survey was also undertaken.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Surgery
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: no intervention, it was an observational study which looked at the reasons for surgical cancellations

Detailed Description

This prospective audit was performed over a 7-month period (August - March 2018). A quality improvement team, consisting of two clinical research fellows and a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, reviewed all the cancellations. The research is reported in line with the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) guidelines.

Adult patients undergoing elective and urgent cardiac surgery were included in our study. Those who underwent emergency or non-cardiac procedures and patients under the age of 18 were excluded. Patients were identified on a weekly basis from theatre registers and printed operating lists. Same day surgery cancellations were defined as any postponement of patients' operation once listed for surgery.

Electronic hospital records were reviewed, and the following information was recorded for all patients: demographics; scheduled surgery date; euroSCORE II and its components; admission type (elective/urgent in-house/transfer patient); date of pre-operative anaesthetic review. Additionally, reasons for cancellation, timing of cancellation (pre-operative/during anaesthesia/intraoperative) and outcomes were recorded. Outcomes included: time from cancellation to performed operation; hospital stay post-cancellation and mortality. Patients were divided into cancelled (C) and non-cancelled (NC) groups for analysis.

The reasons for cancellation were categorized into: lack of ITU beds and nurses; patient medically unfit; scheduling error; patient-related issues; emergency intervened; procedure no longer needed; lack of perfusionist; incomplete investigations; surgeon unavailable; transfer issue; theatre staff shortage; electrical system failure; new intra-operative TOE findings. Patient-related issues included failure to stop medication and treatment refusal. Scheduling errors included overrunning cases, overbooking of the operating room, late operation start and IT errors.

The investigators further assessed the impact of cancellations on patient satisfaction and wellbeing. Patients completed a questionnaire by telephone at 3 months after discharge to allow time to reflect. Questionnaire data assessed adherence to Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland Theatre Efficiency guidance, including healthcare professional informing patients; time offered for explanation; patient understanding and satisfaction as well as perception of being kept nil by mouth (NBM) longer than necessary. (Figure 1) This questionnaire has previously been used by Wasim et al. to assess patient experience following cancelled orthopaedic surgery. A pilot study was conducted to trial the its' validity.

All data was entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Statistical analysis consisted of determination of the mean and range for continuous data and percentage quantification for the categorical data. Statistical significance was established using chi-squared test and two-sided unpaired student t-test with p values <0.05 considered significant. The study was approved by the St Bartholomew's Trust Ethics and Quality Improvement Committee. As this was a quality improvement project and information collected did not include personal identifiers, individual consents were not required.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 1388

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom
    • St Bartholomew's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adult patients whose cardiac surgeries were scheduled at the St.Bartholomew's hospital during the study period

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• adult patients who were scheduled for elective or urgent cardiac surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients under the age of 18 or scheduled for an emergency cardiac surgery

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Cancelled; all adult patients whose surgery was cancelled on the day of the planned procedure	Other: no intervention, it was an observational study which looked at the reasons for surgical cancellations; the investigators observed how many patients had their surgeries cancelled and analysed the reasons of these cancellations
Non-cancelled; all adult patients whose surgery was not cancelled on the day of the planned procedure	Other: no intervention, it was an observational study which looked at the reasons for surgical cancellations; the investigators observed how many patients had their surgeries cancelled and analysed the reasons of these cancellations

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of cancelled cardiac surgery assessed by number of cancellations	frequency and reason for same-day cancellations	immediately after the cancellation of the same-day surgery
Reasons for cancellation of cardiac surgery	reasons for cancelled cardiac surgeries were checked in patients notes and recorded	immediately after the cancellation of the same-day surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient's satisfaction and reaction to the cancellation assessed by the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire	evaluation of patient's reactions to cancellations	throughout study completion, an average of 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: St. Bartholomew's Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 4, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 8, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): May 13, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 13, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 8, 2020
• Last Verified: May 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: cardiac surgery; patient satisfaction; surgery cancellation; service improvement

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No