Greater care should be taken to report IOL problems

A study published in Eye has proposed surgeons should take greater precaution when compiling patient safety incidence (PSI) reports for cataract surgical care.

Dr S. P. Kelly et al., Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Lancashire, UK, identified 164 PSI reports of incorrect IOL implantation in NHS care in England and Wales between 2003 and 2010. The information was gathered from the National Patient Safety Agency.

Of the patients involved in the study, 47 required further surgical intervention, 163 patients needed IOL exchange surgery and 62 reports didn't name any reason for wrong IOL implantation.

The casual reasons for cataract surgery error included inaccurate biometry, wrong IOL selection, transcription errors and handwriting misinterpretations. It was suggested that ophthalmic teams to consider these reasons in order to improve their practice.

IOL implant errors occur infrequently but it was found that they are a threat to quality of cataract care. The study suggests greater attention should be given when creating PSI reports.