Predicting cataract surgery time based on preoperative risk assessment

Operating room (OR) time is an expensive resource that should be optimized to reduce costs. Individualpreoperative risk parameters (PORS) assessment may aid in predicting cataract surgery time.

Dedicated software was developed and known risk factors for cataract surgery were integrated into it.Preoperative risk parameters were assigned to each patient in the preoperative meeting and the risk score wascalculated. A total of 153 patients were divided according to a standard classification into low-risk group (PORS≤2) and high-risk group (PORS >5). Duration of surgery for each group was compared by Student t test and linearregression analysis was used to calculate the relation between change in OR time and change in risk score.

Patients in the high PORS group had longer surgery times when compared with patients in the low PORSgroup (37.6 vs 19.6, p<0.001). Risk scores positively correlated with surgery time (r = 0.30, p<0.001). Predictionequations for the OR time demonstrated for 2 surgeons that every increase in 1 risk point added 2.2 or 3.3 minutesto the OR time. Outliers (more than 1 standard deviation [SD] from each surgeon’s surgery mean time) hadmore than twice the risk score of cases within 1 SD from the mean.

The PORS system may be a useful tool for predicting OR time based on individual patient risk andmay improve OR scheduling.