Abstract
In the Department of Ophthalmology, critical path for patients after lateral cataract surgery has been applied since September 2001. To evaluate its effect, the length of hospital stay and the grade of self-care were compared between 27 cases treated in 2000 (pre-path group) and 23 cases treated in 2001 (post-path group).
As a result, postoperative hospital stay was 6.9±1.7 days in the pre-path group and 5.4±1.3 days in the post-path group, and total hospital stay was 10.0±2.5 days in the pre-path group and 8.6±2.2 days in the post-path group.There are significant differences between these two groups. With respect to self-care, both self-administration of eye drops and ability to carry our shampoo were evaluated. Of the postoperative days when the patient became capable of self-administration of eye drops, it took 2.8±0.9 days in the pre-path group and 2.1±1.0 days in the post-path group. As regards shampooing, it took 3.6±1.1 days in the pre-path group and 3.0±0.6 days in the post-path group. In both parameters, the postoperative days when patients became capable of self-care were shortened significantly in the post-path group in comparison with the pre-path group.
The implementation of the critical path for patients after lateral cataract surgery is effective for the shortening of hospital stay and the improvement of the self-care capability.
