A data-driven approach to evaluate factors affecting resident performance in cataract surgery.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the operative duration and clinical performance of ophthalmology residents performing standard phacoemulsification cataract surgeries using information available from electronic health records (EHR). METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study. De-identified surgical records of all standard phacoemulsifications performed in a tertiary institution between 1st January 2015 and 8th August 2018 were retrieved from the hospital EHR. The main outcome measures were improvement in operative duration with case experience, corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) improvement, and intra-operative complication rates. RESULTS: Twelve ophthalmology residents performed a total of 1427 standard phacoemulsifications. The median operative duration was 27 min (interquartile range, 22-34 min), which improved from 31 to 24 min (before the 101st case [Group 1] versus 101st case onwards [Group 2], p < 0.001). Gradient change analysis (non-linear regression) showed significant reduction until the 100th case (p = 0.043). Older patients (0.019), worse pre-operative CDVA (0.343), and surgery performed by Group 1 (1.115) were significantly associated with operative duration above 30 min. LogMAR CDVA improved from a mean of 0.57 ± 0.52 pre-operatively to 0.10 ± 0.18 post-operatively (p < 0.001). Posterior capsule rupture (PCR) rate decreased from 4.0% [Group 1] to 2.1% [Group 2] (p = 0.096), while overall complication rate decreased from 8.9% to 3.1% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The median operative duration reduced consistently with surgical experience for the first 100 cases. Older patients, poorer pre-operative VA, and surgical experience of less than 100 cases were significantly associated with an operative duration above 30 min. There was a statistically significant decrease in complication rate between Group 1 and 2.

Prescription patterns of outpatients and the potential of multiplexed pharmacogenomic testing.

BACKGROUND: Pre-emptive pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing is potentially an efficient approach to improve drug safety and efficacy but the target population to test is unclear. OBJECTIVES: We aim to describe the prescription pattern of PGx drugs among adult medical outpatients. METHODS: We estimated the 5-year cumulative incidence (CI) for receiving three groups of PGx drugs using competing risks analysis: (i) all PGx drugs, (ii) PGx drugs with guidelines and (iii) PGx drugs with serious clinical effects. Comparisons of CIs were also done by patient characteristics using Gray's test. RESULTS: The 5-year CIs of receiving any new PGx drug, PGx drug with guidelines and serious clinical effects were 42.6%, 37.3% and 13.7%, respectively. The 5-year CI of receiving any new PGx drug was higher for patients >40 years old (43.6% vs ≤40 years old 36.0%, P < 2.2 × 10-22 ), Malays and Indians (50.3% and 49.8% vs Chinese 31.1%, P < 2.2 × 10-22 ), those who attended one of the following four specialties at the index visit compared to other specialties (infectious diseases [46.2% vs 42.6%, P = 2.9 × 10-4 ], psychiatry [48.3% vs 42.3%, P = 7.4 × 10-13 ], renal [49.8% vs 40.9%, P < 2.2 × 10-22 ], and rheumatology and immunology [54.8% vs 41.7%, P < 2.2 × 10-22 ]) and those prescribed ≥5 drugs at index visit (51.7% vs 0-4 drugs 41.7%, P < 2.2 × 10-22 ). CONCLUSIONS: Medical outpatients have a substantial probability of benefiting from pre-emptive PGx testing and this is higher in certain subgroups of patients.