WAITING TIME AMONG PATIENTS UNDERGOING EMERGENCY SURGERY IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL OF NEPAL

Abstract

Background: Managing emergency surgical services and availing prompt treatment on time is one the most important aspects in the delivering quality healthcare services. Prior the average time waiting for emergency surgery from this healthcare setting is unknow. Therefore, this study was delineated to evaluate average waiting time among patients undergoing emergency surgery.

Methods: This descriptive observational study was conducted at Chitwan Medical College from 15 March 2023 to 15 July 2023. Self -structured proforma was developed to document waiting time in each phase of delivering healthcare services, including triage time, consultation time, investigation order and report time, shifting the client from ER to OT for emergency surgery.  Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS 20, and were interpretated in terms of descriptive statistics.

Results: Among 122 cases, the longest waiting time was seen in oral maxi facial surgery with the average time 8 hours 27 minutes. The major surgeries had longest waited hours on an average 6 hours 19 minutes, compared to minor and intermediate surgeries. Overall, the average waiting time form patient admitted to emergency department to start of the surgery was found to be 4 hours 43 minutes.

Conclusions: In this study, the commonest delays were evidenced were, delay in transfer to pre-operative area, delay in second consultation, OT busy, and delay in providing consent and financial incapability. Further improvements can be done by analyzing root cause, modifying the system and formulating standard operating procedure and maintaining a tracking system of patients requiring emergency surgery.