title: [Clinical practice variation in cataract surgery].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cataract surgery rates have dramatically increased in the last two decades. However, clinical practice variation in cataract surgery has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of this review is to analyze clinical practice variation, including the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. Then, its role in health care planning and health care quality is focused, emphasizing the importance of reducing it and providing several practical strategies to accomplish it.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The latest researches are presented in this article. They identify the development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines as the best tool to standardize care processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Managing unwarranted or unwanted variation would improve quality of care and may lead to a significant saving in health care spending.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, España. Electronic address: mgamar1@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: García-Martín
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, España.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giménez-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, España.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Catalán
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, España.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Herrador
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, España.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gallardo
mesh_terms: D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014943:Global Health; D006285:Health Planning; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cataract; Cataract extraction; Cataract surgery; Cataract surgery rate; Catarata; Cirugía de la catarata; Clinical practice variations; Extracción de la catarata; Tasa de cirugía de la catarata; Variaciones en la práctica clínica