Evaluating Perceptions of Head and Neck Surgeons on the Role of Single-Entry Models in Managing Surgical Waitlists in Ontario: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Long surgical wait times have long plagued health systems in Canada and abroad. This backlog and associated strain on health human resources has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting surgeries of varying degrees of urgency across all surgical specialties, including head and neck surgery. Single-entry models (SEMs) are being increasingly studied as one possible strategy to help manage surgical wait times, and a growing number of health systems have implemented SEMs within departments such as otolaryngology-head and neck surgery.