Research Article
A Survey of Patients on the Psychological Impact of Cancellations of Elective Surgeries in the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
Singh SBackground: Cancellation of elective surgery is a worldwide problem. The situations where patients’ surgical appointments are cancelled are an unfortunate occurrence within medical practice. The main objective of this study was to survey the frequency of cancellation, reasons, and its psychological effect on patients at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana. Methods: A prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study involving a self-administered questionnaire conducted at KATH over three months from May 2018 to October 2018. The purposive sampling (total population) technique was used for patient recruitment. Results: During the study, 1078 elective surgeries were booked and 74.2% of elective surgeries were performed over the study period. 278 elective surgical cases were cancelled representing 25.78%. In this study, patients reacted negatively to the cancellation of their scheduled elective surgery. It has long-term psychological effects on patients even after hospital discharge. The study found the lowest rate of cancelled surgeries amongst Farmers 3.3% and the highest (25.6%) amongst unemployed people. Medical /work-up, patient-related, administrative-related, and others accounted for 16.3%, 54.1%, 30.7%, and 18.9% of the cancelled surgeries respectively. The most common patient-related reason for the cancellation was patients not turning up (40.7%). The highest hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale scores 15.4 recorded in the age group of 60 to 69 years. The majority of patients expressed their feeling of disappointment (46.7%). The women in the cancellation group had a significantly higher degree of anxiety and depression as per the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale as compare to their male counterparts. Conclusions: The patients reacted negatively to the cancellation of their scheduled elective surgery. It has long-term psychological effects on patients. These effects persist as anxiety and depression for a long time even after hospital discharge.