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Non-Hospital Cataract Surgery

Status: Completed
Category(s): Developing Innovative Care Pathways
Lead organization: Department of Health
Principal investigator(s): Dan Coulombe

About the project:

The Department of Health had a goal to reduce the volume of seniors waiting for cataract surgery and decrease the wait time for cataract surgery. This project aimed to meet this goal by performing cataract surgeries in a surgi-centre type setting, i.e., outside of a hospital. The project tested the capability of a non-hospital ophthalmology surgery centre to improve access to cataract surgeries and evaluated the impact this approach had on reducing wait times for hospital-based surgeries.

Conclusions and Lessons Learned

• This pilot project opened the door to an innovative strategy to reduce stress on the health care system, while at the same time improving seniors’ health and their quality of life.
• The findings indicate that seniors in the Acadie-Bathurst area now have quicker access to cataract surgery. In addition, these surgeries, which are not performed in a hospital, have not increased the number of subsequent hospitalizations due to complications.
• The deployment of the hybrid public/private care model for cataract surgery is possible, effective and sustainable in New Brunswick.

Recommendations

• Wait lists and patient prioritization must continue to be managed by the public system to safeguard health care-related equity for members of the public.
• Clinics should belong to and be operated by doctors to avoid business models such as those that use out-of-province companies whose focus is on profit to the detriment of quality care.

To learn more read the complete project findings

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Chirurgie de la cataracte en milieu non hospitalier

État du projet: Terminé
Catégorie: Concevoir des protocoles de soins novateurs
Organisation responsable : Ministère de la Santé
Chercheuse principale(s) : Dan Coulombe

Lisez les résultats du projet

À propos du projet :

Le ministère de la Santé cherche à réduire le nombre d’aînés qui attendent une chirurgie de la cataracte et le temps d’attente pour recevoir la chirurgie. Le projet cherche à atteindre cet objectif par la réalisation de la chirurgie de la cataracte dans un milieu de type centre de chirurgie (en dehors du milieu hospitalier). Le projet vérifiera la capabilité d’un centre de chirurgie ophtalmologique en milieu non hospitalier pour améliorer l’accès aux chirurgies de la cataracte et l’incidence qu’une telle approche aura sur la réduction des temps d’attente pour les chirurgies en milieu hospitalier.