Abstract
Purpose
To examine the attitudes and beliefs of UK ophthalmologists towards Immediately Sequential Bilateral Cataract Surgery (ISBCS); explore their reasons to either practise or not practise ISBCS; identify barriers hindering its implementation in the UK.
Setting
Consultant members of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth, UK)
Design
Survey-based, questionnaire
Methods
Distributed to members and collected electronically. An initial screening question in regards to prior experience with ISBCS directed the rest of the survey; participants were asked to rate the importance of several factors with regards to performing ISBCS. Free text options were also available. Descriptive analysis was subsequently performed.
Results
Of the 1357 recipients, 130 (9.6%) ophthalmologists completed the survey. Of those, 13.9% were currently performing ISBCS, 83.1% had never performed, and 3.1% had previously done so but since stopped. The main factors that acted as barriers were lack of: (1) College approval (20.5%); (2) medico-legal approval (20.2%); (3) evidence to support the use of ISBCS (16.0%); and (4) hospital approval (13.3%). Additionally, the perceived risk of complications for patients played an important role when considering ISBCS, with the risk of endophthalmitis being most feared.
Conclusions
This survey demonstrates some of the barriers that prevent ophthalmologist’s performing ISBCS in the UK. There is a need for further exploration in this field to evaluate the effect of addressing any of these concerns on the implementation of ISBCS.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ National Ophthalmology Database study of cataract surgery: Report 7, immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery in the UK: Current practice and patient selection