The impact of quality management on reducing canceled elective operations: a participatory action research

Background and Aims: Surgery operations cancellation causes problems in operation theatre planning and results in hospital inefficiency as well as resource wastage. In addition, it causes stress for both patients and their relatives.This study aimed to examine the impact of quality management on surgery operations cancellation in Vali-e-asr hospital’s operating theatre department (Tehran) in 2014-2015.Materials and Methods: In this participatory action research, the reasons for surgery operations cancellation were identified using a checklist. These reasons were assessed and an action plan was developed for cancellation reduction. The plan was implemented using the action research cycle. SPSS software (version 22) was used for data analysis. Ethical issues such as respect for patients and staff and the confidentiality of information were all considered.Results: Patients failing to turn up, lack of ICU beds availability, and prolonged previous surgeries were the most common causes of surgery operations cancellation. Surgery operations were increased by 15 percent and surgery operations cancellation was reduced by 14.6 percent through the implementation of quality management strategy. Standardization of processes, proper planning, using HIS based operation list, recruiting more staff and giving more information to patients helped reducing the surgery operations cancellation.Conclusion: Formation of quality improvement team, using an appropriate quality management model and its appropriate implementation can help enhance hospital departments’ productivity and reduce surgery operations cancellation.Keywords: Quality management, surgery operations cancellation, hospital, action researc