| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
1 Division of General Practice, School of Community Health Sciences, The Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK
2 Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK
Correspondence to:
Professor A J Avery, Division of General Practice, School of Community Health Sciences, The Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK;
tony.avery{at}nottingham.ac.uk
Background: Key issues in the quality of care for people with cataracts in the UK include hospital waiting lists, complication rates from surgery, and the use of junior surgeons. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relative importance that older people attach to these factors when given theoretical choices over options for cataract surgery.
Method: A systematic sample of 194 individuals aged 60–84 years on a general practice register in Nottingham were invited to take part in an interview based survey. Respondents ranked 11 "cataract surgery packages" containing different waiting list lengths, complication risks, and surgeon grades. Conjoint analysis was performed to determine the relative importance of these factors for individuals and for the group as a whole.
Results: Of the 194 subjects invited to participate, 146 (72%) completed the interview. For the group as a whole the "averaged importance" of the factors was: complication risk 45.8%; waiting time 41.1%, surgeon grade 13.1%. Analysis of importance scores for individuals showed that some were particularly concerned about complication risk while others were more concerned about waiting times. There was a strong negative correlation between importance scores for these factors (Spearman’s rho –0.78, p<0.001).
Conclusions: Most respondents thought that either risk of damage to sight and/or waiting time were important, while surgeon grade was relatively unimportant. The findings show that some potential cataract patients prefer a greater risk of complication combined with a short wait than a low complication rate and a longer wait.
Keywords: patient preferences; conjoint analysis; decision making; cataract surgery; geriatrics; surgeon training
Related Article
Qual. Saf. Health Care 2003 12: 80.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  W. Hodge, T. Horsley, D. Albiani, J. Baryla, M. Belliveau, R. Buhrmann, M. O'Connor, J. Blair, and E. Lowcock The consequences of waiting for cataract surgery: a systematic review Can. Med. Assoc. J., April 24, 2007; 176(9): 1285 - 1290. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. S. Bhargava, B. Patel, A. J. E. Foss, A. J. Avery, and A. J. King Views of Glaucoma Patients on Aspects of Their Treatment: An Assessment of Patient Preference by Conjoint Analysis. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., July 1, 2006; 47(7): 2885 - 2888. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B L Conner-Spady, S Sanmugasunderam, P Courtright, J J McGurran, and T W Noseworthy Determinants of patient satisfaction with cataract surgery and length of time on the waiting list Br. J. Ophthalmol., October 1, 2004; 88(10): 1305 - 1309. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Coulter Safe treatment or a shorter wait: Hobson's choice? Qual. Saf. Health Care, February 1, 2003; 12(1): 5 - 6. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
