Waiting Times for Surgical Procedures : Medical Care (original) (raw)

Academics At The Policy Interface Revisiting The Manitoba Centre For Health Policy And Evaluation And Its Population-Based Health Information System

DeCoster, Carolyn RN, MBA*; Carriere, Keumhee Chough PhD†; Peterson, Sandra BSc, MSc*; Walld, Randy BSc, BComm(Hon)*; MacWilliam, Leonard MSc, MNRM*

*From the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

†From the Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The full report "Waiting Times for Surgical Treatment" on which this paper is based is available ($10.00 Canadian for Canadian orders, $12.00 U.S. for orders from outside Canada) from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, University of Manitoba, S101-750 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3E 0W3.

This work was supported as part of a project on Surgical Waiting Times in Manitoba, one of several projects undertaken each year by the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation under contract to Manitoba Health.

The results and conclusions are those of the authors, and no official endorsement by Manitoba Health or our reviewers was intended or should be implied.

Address correspondence to: Carolyn DeCoster, RN, MBA, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, University of Manitoba, S101-750 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0W3, Canada.

Abstract

Objectives.

Polls show that nearly two thirds of Canadians believe that waiting times prior to surgery have increased in recent years. A study was undertaken in Manitoba to determine whether public perceptions about long and increasing waits were valid.

Research Design.

Using administrative data, waiting times for 10 types of surgery-ranging from coronary artery bypass surgery and mastectomy to cataract surgery and hernia repairs-were studied over a 5-year period.

Results.

Using each patient's preoperative visit to the surgeon as the beginning of the waiting time, median waiting times for most of the procedures studied were found to have, in fact, remained stable or fallen slightly over the period studied.

Conclusions.

Further, an examination of waiting times for cataract surgery demonstrated that allowing surgeons to practice in both public and private arenas seems to be counterproductive to providing good public service.