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Dr. Kuntz hopes patients use his website, which he says will
remain free of commercial influence, to make informed decisions
about the factors that will improve their visual acuity. "Patient
choice is incredibly important in cataract surgery," he explains.
"When patients are involved in shaping their post-op outcomes,
their satisfaction with the surgery will increase."
— Daniel Cook
the day of surgery. "They tell them to stay off the computer and not to
watch TV — to relax and take it easy," says Ms. Cappella. "Educating
patients about what they'll experience after surgery is incredibly
important."
5. Remember the patient's perspective
Making each patient feel like they're the only one you're operating on
that day can be challenging when cases last no more than 15 minutes,
points out Dr. Slonim. "Still," he says, "patients should never feel like
they're a cog in the assembly line."
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that patients are coming in for a sin-
gular experience. "I encourage every member of the surgical team to
be mindful of what the patients are experiencing," says Dr. Kuntz,
"and to constantly look at cataract surgery from their point of view."
Dr. Kuntz is sure to share reassuring words with a patient as soon as
her case ends and is quick to set her expectations for the next planned
procedure. "Patients are still lightly sedated, so they're in a suggestive
state," he says. "I let them know how well the procedure went, how
great of an experience they're having — and how much I'm looking
forward to removing the cataract from their other eye in a couple
weeks."
OSM