Masters Degrees (DS) Medicine

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Browsing Masters Degrees (DS) Medicine by Advisor "Nweze, Onochie"

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    Frequency and factors associated with cancellation of elective surgical operations in Intermediate Hospital Oshakati
    (University of Namibia, 2025) Ndeshipanda, Josef Sakeus; Nweze, Onochie
    Introduction: An elective surgical case cancellation refers to any planned operation that was not performed on the scheduled day. This problem has a negative impact on health systems, especially in resource challenged countries. This study determined frequency and factors associated with cancellation of elective surgical operation in Intermediate Hospital, Oshakati. Methodology: A prospective observational cohort study design was employed. All patients scheduled to undergo elective surgeries from September to November 2023 were recruited. A proforma was used to extract data from patient’s record, daily scheduled operation lists and theatre surgery register. A thematic analysis of reasons for cancellation was employed. Furthermore, analysis included descriptive statistics as frequencies and percentages, presented in tables. Results: During the study period, 1599 elective surgeries were booked, of which 336 cases (21%) were cancelled on the day of surgery. Of the total cancelled cases, 186 (55.4%) were female and 150 (44.6%) were males patients. Vascular surgery (45.8%) had the highest proportion of cancellations while Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department had the least (9.4%). The most common factors why surgeries were cancelled were time constraints (21.4%) and lack of theatre space (15.5%). Conclusion: The overall cancellation incidence was found to be higher than the internationally recommended rate of less than 5%. Our 21% rate was found higher than that of most developed countries but lower than some African countries. Resource limitations related factors constituted the most common category of reasons for cancellations. Recommendation: Most causes of cancellation can be avoided by building more theatre space, employ more staffs and prioritizing the optimal functioning of operating theatre in the hospital. Development of operating theatre standard of practice and policies is of equally important. Furthermore, a constant communication between theatre user parties should me maintained