Assessment of patient satisfaction with outcomes of and ophthalmic care for cataract surgery.

Purpose: To assess patient satisfaction with cataract surgery care.

Setting: Private and public health ophthalmic centers, France.

Methods: This prospective longitudinal multicenter observational study enrolled patients attending consultation for a preoperative visit from September 2007 to February 2008. Patients were eligible if they had uncomplicated cataract and agreed to participate. At the preoperative visits, medical data and disease history were collected. At the first postoperative visit (at 1 to 7 days), the following data were collected: patient status, surgical procedure, and follow-up (patient management, complications, medications). Patients completed a questionnaire after each visit to assess satisfaction with their management and follow-up before, during, and after surgery (up to 30 days postoperatively).

Results: Of the 781 patients enrolled by 91 ophthalmologists, 41 were excluded for not meeting eligibility criteria, leaving 740 patients in the statistical analysis. Cataract extraction was by phacoemulsification. The incision was 2.2 to 3.2 mm in 94.7% of cases, and the intraocular lens was acrylic in 96.3% of cases. Anesthesia was mainly topical (56.8%) or local (42.1%). The most frequent postoperative treatments were nonsteroidal antiinflammatory eyedrops and combined steroidal and antibacterial eyedrops (95.9% and 94.7%, respectively). Most patients (96.4%) said the surgery results met their expectations, and 67.2% reported being able to perform activities they could not do preoperatively. Overall, 98.2% of patients said they were satisfied with their management.

Conclusion: Assessment of the management and follow-up of patients having cataract surgery showed that the care provided was in accordance with the expectations of French patients.

Financial Disclosure: No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.