Why is there sometimes a wait at the hospital before surgery?

Tagged surgery; Posted 7 years ago by Andreas Obermair

In my practice we collect patient feedback at 6 weeks after surgery and patients are very open about their experiences. We are interested to see if we meet the expectations of our patients and what we can do to improve the hospital experience.

The last question is the most important: “If there was one thing we could do better – what would that be?”

Consistently, we hear from patients that they find it sometimes tiresome to wait for their surgery. “Why do I need to come in at 1 pm when my surgery actually did not start before 4 pm?” Some patients feel that their surgery time was “late” or that they would have liked to have waited around less.

My staff and I ask patients to arrive at the hospital two hours prior to their operation. The sometimes longer than expected waiting time is caused by a few reasons.

First, a patient’s admission time is not the operation time. After admission by a hospital nurse, checklists need to be completed; sometimes blood needs to be taken; and sometimes an ECG needs to be written. These things take time and ideally, we don’t rush.

While we attempt to stagger the arrival times of patients as best we can, the length of time patients have to wait for surgery depends on how long the operation of the previous patient takes. Due to the variable nature of procedure operating times it can therefore sometimes be difficult to estimate an accurate time for your surgery. Our primary loyalty is and will always be with the patient who is with me in the operating theatres.

For example, sometimes we need to perform frozen section examinations. For a frozen section assessment, I remove a mass from an ovary, or a uterus and send it to a pathologist who will come to the operating theatres and snap freeze the tissue to examine it. That can take between 30 and 45 minutes. If the tissue is cancerous more and extended surgery will be required during the same operation. This may add another hour to the “normal” operating time.

In addition, emergencies may occur. For example, if an operation normally takes two hours but we encounter extensive adhesions (organs are glued together and will need to be separated) this may add another hour or two in the operating room. The other week, my team and I took five hours for a very complex and difficult procedure that would take two hours under easier conditions.

Finally, patients are admitted according to the order of my operating list. Typically, I complete smaller and day surgical operations first so that patients can go home and rest. We then follow with more advanced surgical procedures afterwards. This means that a patient who is scheduled surgery in the afternoon is more likely to experience delays. To reduce unnecessary hospital costs, we will want the next patient to be ready, which also means that the last patient waits longest.

Especially husbands and partners suffer from extended waiting periods. “Why has no one phoned me yet?”. Please be aware that surgery takes time and no one wants to be rushed in the operating theatres. We do our best to get operations done as effectively and safe as possible. We don’t aim to be quick.

I do suggest that you bring a book, an iPad or something for entertainment to bridge the time. Husbands and partners are allowed to be with patients in the presurgical areas but typically not into the clean operating rooms.

I hope that the brief article explained delays of surgery. If you have any concerns, please let me or my staff know. 

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