EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78712
February 2011 April 2012 EW REFRACTIVE 53 would be a standard deviation of 0.25 D or less for the power and 3.5 degrees or less for the axis. And there are validation criteria for axial length, there are validation criteria for IOL power. Much of this is out- lined on my website [www.doctor- hill.com]. The biggest problem that physi- cians and their staff can have is to fall in love with technology, think it's magic, and just accept whatever is given to them. … Most of the time you're going to be fine because tech- nology at current levels happens to be really good. But some of the time … you're going to get hammered be- cause what you're given isn't right for whatever reason; technically it was done incorrectly [or] the ma- chine made a wrong assumption. You have to turn your brain on when you turn on the instrument, so you can pick up things that may deviate from what's anticipated and maybe … go back and either double- check or repeat the measurement. EyeWorld: How can doctors track their results? Dr. Hill: You can do it with a com- mercial program like the Holladay IOL Consultant [Holladay Consult- ing, Bellaire, Texas]. You put in both your pre-operative and post-opera- tive measurements and then the software will do ongoing analysis for you. It gives a lot of really good in- formation. Another way is to go to my web- site [to] the Downloads area, and there's an Excel spreadsheet [Haigis- 300.xls] that people can fill out and send to me. I will do lens constant analysis for the Haigis, Holladay 1, SRK/T, and Hoffer Q formulas for free and provide an analysis of their data showing where they may stand in relation to others in the oph- thalmic community. It doesn't cost anything, and they get some really good information. EyeWorld: What's the overall take- home message? Dr. Hill: Don't completely automate. Don't completely delegate. Obvi- ously, staff has to do the procedures because we can't be everywhere at the same time, but physicians really need to be involved. It's helpful to remember that physicians are judged by their patients and their peers by their refractive outcomes. Where better to put your time than in the thing that almost seems to matter most? Don't take direction from your staff as to how this needs to be done—you should be the leader and the one who gives them direction. EW Editors' note: Dr. Hill has financial interests with Haag-Streit. Contact information Hill: hill@doctor-hill.com