Posters

Benchmarking of both the medical outcome and patient satisfaction in ambulant cataract surgery

Poster Details

First Author: D.Haas GERMANY

Co Author(s):    T. Haunit   R. Kemmler-v. Saint Paul                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

This study in the field of health services research aims at creating transparency of the outcome in the ambulant cataract surgery across Germany, which represents the prerequisite to improve the quality in patient care on a nationwide scale.

Setting:

Many cataract surgeons are interested in further improving cataract surgery. In the context of this study, they get the necessary information about the objective and subjective outcome of their surgery.

Methods:

Cooperating ophthalmologists document medical and psychological data (through a face-to-face interview) across the whole cataract treatment cycle. Afterwards, different quality characteristics in detailed areas are analyzed for each surgery center, and compared with the results of other centers.

Results:

The analysis of different quality characteristics demonstrates a high level in the quality of the ambulant cataract surgery in Germany. For example, the gain of visual acuity by cataract surgery as an important indicator of the medical outcome was 0.33 logMAR (nationwide average); the postoperative visual acuity was 0.13 logMAR (decimal: 0.74). The outcome of the surgery was assessed positively by the patients in almost all participating surgery centers; however, also bigger differences between the surgery centers were apparent.

Conclusions:

In the future, it will be necessary to analyze the outcome of the cataract surgery in more detail. For example, the gain of visual acuity will be analyzed dependent on the presence of other eye diseases or the complexity of the surgery. Through a more detailed survey of the patient satisfaction it will be also possible to detect small, but significant deviations from best-practice procedures, e.g. concerning patient education.

Financial Disclosure:

One or more of the authors gains financially from product or procedure presented, One or more of the authors is employed by a for-profit company with an interest in the subject of the presentation