Rate of Appointment Postponing in Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the rate of appointment postponing in Department of Surgery.Design: Retrospective, descriptive study.Setting: Surgical OPD, Srinagarind hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University.Subjects: All patients who have appointment  with Department of Surgery during January 1, 1996 and December 31, 1996.Data collection Review from the appointment book, database of Srinagarind hospital, and cards of medical record.Measurement Descriptive statistics, including number, percentages, and means.Results: The appointment postponing occurred in 1,295 cases out of  2,402 patients (53.91%). These were divied in to 5 groups according to numbers of postponing one time  1,064 cases (44.30%) , two times 175 cases (7.29%), three time 47 cases (1.96%), four time 6 cases (0.25%), and five times 3 cases (0.12%). The highest incidence of posponing occurred in the 3rd trimester (28.03%), while the lowest incidence occurred in the 1st trimester (22.24%). Postponin incidence mostly occurred in cardiovascular \& thoracic surgery  62.07% (288/464), while the postpoing incidence was lowest in pediatric surgery 32.58% (130/399). The causes  of appointment postponing were 1) surgeons only 613 cases (47.34%), 2) patients only 563  cases (43.47%), and 3) both surgeons and patients  119 cases (9.19%). The division of which the surgeon was the major cause of postponing was neuro surgery (81.82%), in contrast with general surgery 2 (34.21%).Conclusions: The incidence of appointment postponig in Department of Surgery is 53.91% in 1996. Causes of postponment is similar from surgeon and patients. Neurosurgery has the highest incidence of postpoing from surgeon, while general surgery 2 has the lowest incidence.  The highest incidence of postponing is in the 3rd  trimester.Keywords (1)   Appointment postponing  (2) Outpatient  (3) Surgery