Same-Day Cancellation in Vascular Surgery: 10-Year Review at a Large Tertiary Care Center

Background Same-day cancellation of vascular surgical procedures is an undesirable occurrence with multi-faceted implications into patient’s healthcare. Numerous factors play a role in same-day cancellations, ranging from medical causes, patient factors, or administrative and scheduling conflicts. Methods A retrospective review of the medical records database at our large, tertiary academic referral center from 2007-2017 was performed to identify patients scheduled for vascular surgical procedures who experienced same-day cancellation. Results Of the 17,887 scheduled vascular surgical procedures during the study period, 361 (2%) of patients experienced same-day cancellations. Seventy-five percent of cancellations were determined to be non-foreseeable, 12.5% foreseeable, and 12.5% indeterminate. The most common reasons for cancellation were medical (55%), patient initiated cancellation (12%), procedure no longer required (10%), and administrative or scheduling conflicts (10%). Twenty-six (7.3%) patients, died within 30 days following their cancelled vascular operation. The majority of patients (70%) eventually received the planned operation, with a mean interval of 45.5 ± 135.8 days between cancellation and performance of said procedure. Conclusions At our institution, same-day cancellations of vascular surgical procedures were infrequent (2%). Most cancellations were due to medical reasons. While the majority of cancellations were determined to be non-foreseeable, emphasizing foreseeable cancellations may provide opportunities to improve patient care, enhance satisfaction, and reduce future cancellations.