Overview, study population and study design
We carried out a population-based study to evaluate usage of preoperative anesthesia consultation in . is the largest province in , with a population of over 14 million residents. The Canadian healthcare system is a publically funded and administered system, governed by the Canada Health Act. This Act mandates comprehensive universal coverage for all medically necessary services, including medical (anesthesiology) consultations. Private health insurance for these services is prohibited. As such, these consults are available to all persons equally, and the data sources were population-based. Patients were excluded if a valid patient identifier was not available, if age/sex information was missing, or if residency was outside of . This study was approved by the Queen’s University Health Sciences & Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board, project #6025862.