Patient and physician perspectives of maximum acceptable waiting times for cataract surgery.

Background: Lengthy waiting times for cataract surgery are an important issue in countries with publicly funded health care systems. To improve the fairness, timeliness, and certainty of waiting-time management, the Western Canada Waiting List Project has developed priority criteria scores (PCSs) related to urgency and linked to maximum acceptable waiting times (MAWTs). The purpose of our study was to compare patient and physician perspectives of MAWT for different levels of urgency.

The prioritization of patients on waiting lists for cataract surgery: validation of the Western Canada waiting list project cataract priority criteria tool.

Purpose: To assess the validity of the Cataract Priority Criteria Score (PCS), developed by the Western Canada Waiting List (WCWL) Project to determine patient prioritization for cataract surgery.

Methods: Ophthalmologists assessed consecutive patients with the PCS and a visual analogue scale of urgency (VAS Urgency). Patients were mailed questionnaires pre- and post-surgery.

Cataract surgical outcome at the Vancouver Eye Care Centre: can it be predicted using current data?

Background: Patients selected for cataract surgery have an increasingly wider range of coexisting ocular and systemic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether preoperative patient characteristics can assist surgeons in identifying patients who are at increased risk of having little or no improvement in visual outcome after cataract surgery.

Methods: We prospectively studied a randomly selected subset (20%) of patients with cataract undergoing cataract extraction at a tertiary centre in Vancouver.

Cataract surgery at the Vancouver Eye Care Centre: do patient indications meet provincial clinical practice guidelines?

Background: Cataract surgery, already the most common elective surgical procedure among patients over the age of 65 in North America, is rising in volume, because the population is aging while at the same time holding growing expectations of continued vitality. In meeting the need, there is a public interest in ensuring that cataract surgery is used appropriately. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the indication for cataract surgery performed in adults at a large tertiary care centre in Vancouver and to determine the extent to which patient criteria met the guidelines of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of British Columbia.