Grant: Operating Grant

Since 2004, significant amounts of attention and investment have been focused on the problem of surgical wait times; however, surgical wait times represent only one piece of the patient's wait for treatment. Many patients face a lengthy wait between referral from a primary care provider to the time of their surgical consultation. This wait time is not measured by any provincial government and is not reported as part of surgical wait times. This lengthy wait time leads to important policy questions about the appropriateness of current referral patterns. This wait also has implications for a patient's ongoing health and ultimately their decision to proceed with surgery. The purpose of this study is to characterize the patients that are experiencing this wait and to understand how patient health and quality of life changes while waiting to see a specialist for elective surgery. Information on a patient's health during their wait for surgical assessment cannot be extracted from current wait list registries or observational databases. Working with surgical specialities in Vancouver Coastal Health, we will survey patients as they are referred to a specialist and periodically until the decision is made to proceed with surgery or conservative medical treatment. These surveys will measure the patient's self-reported health, their knowledge about their condition and its treatment options and their confidence in the decision to have surgery. This study will inform governments and clinicians about who is waiting for surgical assessment, why they are waiting and how long they are waiting. Decision- and policy-makers can use this information to implement solutions to shorten the wait times of patients while improving their health and quality of care.