Predicting cataract surgery time based on preoperative risk assessment

Purpose: Operating room (OR) time is an expensive resource that should be optimized to reduce costs. Individual preoperative risk parameters (PORS) assessment may aid in predicting cataract surgery time. Methods: Dedicated software was developed and known risk factors for cataract surgery were integrated into it. Preoperative risk parameters were assigned to each patient in the preoperative meeting and the risk score was calculated. A total of 153 patients were divided according to a standard classification into low-risk group (PORS ≤2) and high-risk group (PORS >5). Duration of surgery for each group was compared by Student t test and linear regression analysis was used to calculate the relation between change in OR time and change in risk score. Results: Patients in the high PORS group had longer surgery times when compared with patients in the low PORS group (37.6 vs 19.6, p<0.001). Risk scores positively correlated with surgery time (r = 0.30, p<0.001). Prediction equations for the OR time demonstrated for 2 surgeons that every increase in 1 risk point added 2.2 or 3.3 minutes to the OR time. Outliers (more than 1 standard deviation [SD] from each surgeon’s surgery mean time) had more than twice the risk score of cases within 1 SD from the mean. Conclusions: The PORS system may be a useful tool for predicting OR time based on individual patient risk and may improve OR scheduling.