title: The role of biostatistics in the quality improvement of refractive surgery.
abstract: To demonstrate how the large quantity of uniformly collected data available to a corporate refractive surgery provider, Optical Express, is applied to drive improvements in patient outcomes.
  
  
  
  Optical Express employs a skilled team of biostatisticians to analyze the information in its electronic medical records database of over 5,500,000 patient records. The techniques used to ensure high data quality and the selection of statistical methods used in making data-driven clinical decisions are described. The importance of appropriate statistical methods is demonstrated in an example in which the effect of age on refractive outcomes in low myopes is studied. The use of a corporate database in prospective and retrospective analyses is detailed.
  
  
  
  By providing the resources necessary to interpret the information in Optical Express' medical records database, the biostatistics department has helped Optical Express refine its procedures and improve surgical protocols and patient outcomes.
  
  
  
  Biostatistical analyses help transform the large quantities of uniformly collected clinical data available to a corporate surgery provider into information that can be applied to improve clinical practice. Such data-driven process improvements play a key role in improving patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Department, Optical Express, 4520 Executive Dr, Ste 230, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. keith.hettinger@opticalexpress.com
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hettinger
mesh_terms: D001699:Biometry; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D054140:Refractive Surgical Procedures