Can J Ophthalmol
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Comparative Study
Waiting times for eye surgery at a Toronto teaching hospital.
Waiting times for eye surgery in Ontario have increased dramatically in recent years. We performed a study to compare the waiting times, the amount of operating time and the number of cases performed for various eye surgical procedures in 1999, 2000 and 2001 at a major Toronto teaching hospital. ⋯ The waiting times for all eye operations increased substantially between 1999 and 2001 at this Toronto teaching hospital. In addition, for each type of surgery the median waiting time was longer than the Ontario median, by 13% (cataract surgery) to 191% (vitreoretinal surgery). The fact that the number of cases performed decreased only slightly despite a dramatic decrease in operating time indicates that there was an increase in efficiency. Possible ways to reduce the long waits include implementing prioritization programs, increasing operating time and moving cataract surgery out of the hospital to a day surgical centre.