Investigation of effective factors in the cancellation of elective surgeries in Shahid Arefian Hospital, Urmia, Iran

The provision of healthcare services is one of the main and vital necessities of every society, the lack of which is considered as a weak point for governments and leads to extensive social discontent. Regarding the increasing treatment costs, it seems essential to find a way to decrease the patient's expenses.
This practical study was conducted in the Shahid Arefian Hospital of Urmia city, Iran based on the five phases of Lean Six Sigma. Out of the factors affecting patient's cost reduction, the cancellation of elective surgeries was investigated by the implementation of brainstorming meetings.
According to the results, the principal factors of surgery cancellations increasing patient's costs were paraclinic, clinical, and system factors, as well as the factors related to the surgeon and patient. The implementation of Six Sigma phases revealed that the sigma of the present process was 3.1827 that is an undesirable value for a medical center since disorganization in this section is not compensable.
In the brainstorming meetings held with the members involved in the project, the practical solutions of reducing the canceling factors were proposed and presented in two flowcharts. It is predicted that the implementation of the proposed solutions would upgrade the sigma of the process to 3.5.