Waiting times in plastic surgery at a tertiary care institute of North India

Waiting time for elective care is defined as the time that elapses between firstly the physician’s decision to admit a patient for elective surgery following clinical assessment and secondly the date of hospital admission (Merehau Cindy Mervin and Sukhan Jackson, 2009) The 2005 edition of the Fraser Institute Report on Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada indicates that wait times for plastic surgery are the second lengthiest of all specialties (The 2005 edition of the Fraser Institute Report on Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada). The objective of our study was to study the relation between various types of patients admitted in the department of plastic and re-constructive surgery at Sher-i- Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, J&K and their respective waiting times. The study was conducted for a period of one year from 1st October 2013 to 30th September 2014. It was a prospective observational study carried out on the patients admitted in the ward of plastic and re-constructive surgery. The study was done based on the interviews from relevant informants, study of records .Out of the total of 2238 patients admitted 495 cases were that of RTA(road traffic accidents), 162 bear mauls, 135cleft palate, 117 cleft lip, 99 tin cut injuries, 90 PBC(Post burn contracture) hand, 72 cases of SCC(squamous cell carcinoma) face, 60 cases of BCC(Basal cell carcinoma) thigh. Maximum cases of BCC thigh, bear mauls, RTA, electric burn, tin cut, machine injuries had a wait time of less than 30 days while post burn contractures had to wait for more than a month for their treatment.