Author: Healio ophthalmology

Communication-and-resolution programs may avert lawsuits from medical errors

Communication-and-resolution programs that encourage clinicians to explain facts and offer apologies for the medical error in patient injury cases did not increase lawsuits and may help prevent medical malpractice litigation, according to findings published in Health Affairs.
“Despite widespread adoption of tort reforms in the United States, concerns persist about the liability system’s effects on the cost of health care and on patients and physicians involved in adverse events,” Michelle M. Mello, JD, PhD, from Stanford Law School and Stanford University School of Medicine,

Communication-and-resolution programs may avert lawsuits from medical errors

Communication-and-resolution programs that encourage clinicians to explain facts and offer apologies for the medical error in patient injury cases did not increase lawsuits and may help prevent medical malpractice litigation, according to findings published in Health Affairs.“Despite widespread adoption of tort reforms in the United States, concerns persist about the liability system’s effects on the cost of health care and on patients and physicians involved in adverse events,” Michelle M. Mello, JD, PhD, from Stanford Law School and Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “In response, there has (Read more...)

What Burning Man taught me about ophthalmic practice management

“[Burning Man] is like a cross between Vatican ceremony, Cirque du Soleil and a necro-erotic cannibal mantis mating ritual.” Bruce Sterling
“Human beings are flawed and complicated and messy.” Brit Marling
“I like messy. What fun is tidy?” Dasha Zhukova
Burning Man, an annual, temporary flash city of 70,000 splendidly artistic, variously intoxicated, citizens is coming to a fiery climax on a dry lakebed east of Reno, Nevada, as this column goes to press.
Burning Man has grown up. There were only 25,000 of us 14 years ago, the first (Read more...)

Specialist gives pearls on gel stent implant

The Allergan Xen gel stent is a successful attempt to combine minimal invasiveness and maximum effectiveness, according to one specialist.
“It achieves mean IOP just 1 mm Hg above the pressure benchmark of trabeculectomy, combining the efficacy of subconjunctival filtration with a minimally invasive procedure,” Ingeborg Stalmans, MD, PhD, said.
With the plethora of surgical options available today, the hardest thing is to choose which treatment is the best for individual patients, and it seems difficult to find a balance between efficacy and safety, she said.
“With most MIGS

Specialist gives pearls on gel stent implant

The Allergan Xen gel stent is a successful attempt to combine minimal invasiveness and maximum effectiveness, according to one specialist.“It achieves mean IOP just 1 mm Hg above the pressure benchmark of trabeculectomy, combining the efficacy of subconjunctival filtration with a minimally invasive procedure,” Ingeborg Stalmans, MD, PhD, said.

Different approaches available to determine axis of astigmatism for toric implants

Correcting astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery provides patients with improved vision; toric IOLs are an excellent option for patients with greater than 1 D of symmetric astigmatism. However, the implant must be properly aligned to provide the desired outcome. As cataract surgeons, we measure our patients in a myriad of ways — manual keratometry, optical biometry, intraoperative aberrometry, wavefront topography — but which measurement do we use as our final pick to align the toric implant? Below are comments from multiple surgeons describing their preferred approaches.