Objective: To determine the incidence and causes of elective surgery cancellations in Songklanagarind Hospital.

Material and Method: A prospective survey was conducted from September to November 2012. All patients who had their scheduled elective operations cancelled were assessed. Data was collected on the following 2 components: (1) patient demographics; (2) main reasons for cancellations, which were grouped into patient-related factors and organizational-related factors. Data are reported as a percentage of patients whose operations were cancelled. The association between cancellation status and patient demographics was assessed using univariate logistic regression.

Results: 2,395 patients were scheduled for elective surgery and of these 343 (14.3%) had their operations cancelled. Cardiothoracic surgery had the highest rate of cancellations (28.7%) while the least number of cancellations occurred in ophthalmology (10.1%). The main reasons for cancellations were related to the unit’s organization (53.6%), due to the surgeon (48.4%). Patient related causes (46.4%), due to non medical reasons (32.1%). The most common cause of cancellation by the surgeon was lack of theater time (21.3%), by patients due to the patient’s nonappearance (25.1%). Cancellation was significantly associated with type of patient, health insurance, type of anesthesia and specialties (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Surgery cancellations by surgeons relating to a lack of theater time was a significant problem in our setting. Appropriate solutions for better quality improvement are needed.