Audit Of Patient Motivation For Cataract And Refractive Surgery And Alignment Between Virtual (Optometrist) And Surgeon Recommendation

To evaluate patient motivation for cataract and refractive surgery and assess the alignment between virtual optometrist recommended procedure and final surgeon recommendation.

Optegra Eye Health Care, UK

A retrospective audit (January 2024-December 2024) was conducted for patients attending a 30-minute optometric virtual consultation for cataract or refractive surgery. The consultation comprises either a telephone or video call and enables up to 10,000 appointments to be offered per annum. Patient motivations and surgical recommendations were analysed. The study included data on patient preferences, optometric virtual and final surgeon recommendations.

Preliminary analysis showed that ‘freedom from glasses’ was the primary motivation cited by 54%, followed by freedom from contact lenses accounting for 24%. 36% of patients proceeded to have presbyopic IOL surgery, 32% elected to have LASIK, 18% SMILE and 5% elected to have  ICL or LASEK. In general and where patients were recommended LVC or ICL, decision making at the virtual consultation and final surgeon assessment was closely aligned. Alignment was less consistent between virtual and surgeon consults for IOL type with surgeons more inclined to offer a presbyopic IOL solution versus a monofocal. 

This audit highlights key factors influencing patient motivation for cataract and refractive surgery and provides insights into the decision-making alignment between virtual optometrists and surgeons. Infrequent discrepancy between virtual assessments and final surgeon recommendations highlights the complex nature of surgical decision-making for some refractive procedures. The current findings serve as a preliminary exploration and foundation for larger-scale investigations in this area.