1 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7
C
ataract facilities
are bustling
places, so it
helps to provide the sur-
gical team with a quick
and easy way to refer-
ence clinical data when
they're preparing
patients for surgery.
That's why we came up
with a "'license plate," a
printout of a patient's electronic medical record that we tape to the
arm of the surgical microscope.
It includes the patient's name, age, eye data, description of the
cataract density, maximum dilation recorded during the clinic exam,
whether special viscoelastic is needed and the presence of cornea gut-
tata or other unique anatomical qualities such as loose zonules or pre-
vious eye trauma that could increase the case's complexity. That infor-
mation makes the time out simpler — it's most of what needs to dou-
ble-checked during the pre-op pause — but it's perhaps more helpful
for the surgeon. From my seat, I'm able to determine what pha-
coemulsification power to use and whether patients are at their maxi-
mum dilation, which lets me know if I'll need to use a pupil-expanding
device or dilation solution. Plus, if I happen to forget a patient's name
during a busy day of surgery, I'm reminded with a discreet glance at
the sheet.
Jeffrey Whitman, MD
Key-Whitman Eye Center
QuICK rEFErEnCE
"License Plates" Put Patients' Info Front and Center
• RUN THE TAGS Cataract surgeon Jeffrey Whitman, MD, hangs essential clin-
ical data on the surgical microscope for reference before and during surgery.
Key-Whitman
Eye
Center
Dallas, Texas
whitman@keywhitman.com
