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IMPROVING LASIK OUTCOMES WITH SOFTWARE
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INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT
 Physician’s program helps others compile and analyze data.
Outcomes are important in any surgical procedure, but for laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK), tracking outcomes and tweaking techniques based on that data play a major part in future outcomes. Fortunately, there is flexible, user-friendly software available.
Perry S. Binder, MS MD, associate clinical professor of ophthalmology, non salaried, at the University of California, San Diego, using the File Maker Pro program to perform outcomes analysis, creating software for Macintoshes and PC’s that enables LASIK, PHOTOREFRACTIVE KERATECTOMY (PRK), AND CATARACT SURGEONS TO COLLECT INFORMATION AND TRACK PATIENTS. The program runs on as little or as much information as you want to give it.
It needs a minimum of 8 MB of RAM (12 MB recommended), a Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Macintosh 9.2 or greater operating system, 20MB or more of hard drive space, a CD-ROM drive, and a color monitor to run. Binder said he created the program so any surgeon or technician could use it. “What you get is a CD-ROM and a brochure that explains everything that can be done with the program. A manual and help Quick Time movies are included.
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Binder said there are pop-up menus that prompt the surgeon to put in information, such as the patient’s birth date and current date; you never enter the patient’s age, because the program calculates it for you. Surgeons simply plug in the results of surgery and the program tracks them and then tells the surgeon how to modify his surgery to improve his results.
This program can generate referral letters or patient’s operative notes for their medical records. It can also provide scientific abstracts or co-management letters at the touch of a button. “That’s a timesaving factor for ophthalmologists, who many times, are referred patients by optometrists and need to send back notes regarding the surgery,” Binder said.
When interviewed, Binder said he had sold about 120 copies of the program, mostly to refractive surgeons. With this program, surgeons can submit information to each other via modem for shared tracking and analysis. Summit Technology has purchased several of the programs for its investigators.
Surgeons can have a software engineer write a program, but that can be pricey. The one thing about this program is that it is variable and customizable. Some doctors get wrapped up into a whole lot of information about demographics; some don’t. This program will work with minimum information and with maximum information. It also has an incredible manual, which may tend to overwhelm some people, but Dr. Binder explains how to use the program very well, so technicians and other office personnel will also be able to use the database. For more information, go to the website: www.refractiveoutcomes.com
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