title: Cataract surgery practice patterns in the United States Veterans Health Administration.
abstract: To document current cataract surgery practice patterns of ophthalmologists in the United States Veterans Health Administration, an anonymous online 27-question survey was emailed to the 132 members of the Association of Veterans Affairs Ophthalmologists. The results were tabulated in a computerized database and analyzed with descriptive statistics. The response rate was 53% (70/132); 89% (62/70) of the respondents performed cataract surgery. Sixty percent (36/60) of the responding cataract surgeons were full-time employees, and most (85%, 51/60) trained residents. Common practices among them included partial coherence interferometry for biometry (81%, 47/58), topical anesthesia (57%, 33/58), clear corneal incisions (91%, 53/58), and acrylic single-piece intraocular lens (IOL) implantation (97%, 56/58). Eighty-three percent (48/58) offered toric IOLs at their facilities. These results will help benchmark cataract surgery practice patterns in teaching hospitals and facilitate comparison with cataract surgery in other settings.
authors.affiliation: Section of Ophthalmology, VA Medical Center, Providence, Rhode Island 02908, USA. paul_greenberg@brown.edu
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Havnaer
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Oetting
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Garcia-Ferrer
mesh_terms: D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006306:Health Surveys; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*