Abstract: Objective To explore the rate and causes for cancellation of inpatients elective operations on the day of surgical operation in order to develop strategy for optimization of resource utilization. Methods This study retrospectively investigated inpatient elective operation cases in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 1 2019 to July 31 2020 from the hospital electronic information system and analyzed the rate and causes for cancellation of elective operations on the day of surgery. Results Totally 343 cases (0.52%) cancelled operation on the day of surgery among 66 090 inpatient elective operations. Reasons for cancellation involved medical(21.3%), surgical(39.7%), patients(29.2%)and anesthesia(9.9%)factors. Conclusions Most cancellation events can be prevented by improving specific measures like dedicated preoperative anesthesia assessment and the rate of operation cancellation is expected to be reduced significantly.

Key words: elective operation, cancellation of surgeries, medical safety, patient compliance, preoperative evaluation