Waiting for children's surgery in Canada: the Canadian Paediatric Surgical Wait Times project.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In addition to possibly prolonged suffering and anxiety, extended waits for children's surgery beyond critical developmental periods has potential for lifelong impact. The goal of this study was to determine the duration of waits for surgery for children and youth at Canadian paediatric academic health sciences centres using clinically-derived access targets (i.e., the maximum acceptable waiting periods for completion of specific types of surgery) as used in this Canadian Paediatric Surgical Wait Times project.

Methods

We prospectively applied standardized wait-time targets for surgery, created by nominal-group consensus expert panels, to pediatric patients at children's health sciences centres across Canada with decision-to-treat dates of Sept. 1, 2007 or later.

SUBMITTER: Wright JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3114932 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature