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Point/Counter: What are the advantages of having the same surgeon perform both femto and phaco?
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Account for patient’s perspective
Patients are usually most aware of who is doing the laser portion of the cataract procedure because he or she is less sedated and wears no drape to cover the other eye. It is the more frightening part of the procedure. Having a single surgeon perform all aspects of the procedure is the cleanest way to proceed because the patient has a bond with one surgeon and has little question as to who actually did the surgery.
From a patient’s perspective, it is all a part of the same procedure. Patients are not concerned with understanding how dividing the procedure among two separate operating surgeons is of logistical benefit to the practice, the surgery center or the surgeon.
For most of us, our biggest source of referrals is from past patients with whom we have a bond. We do something to disrupt those bonds when we introduce another surgeon to do a portion of their procedure. We commoditize our work, and we lessen the importance of the relationship between doctor and patient. Besides that, there are usually ways to work out the logistics so that there is no significant loss of time for a single operating surgeon to do all aspects of the procedure, even in high-volume practices, where some surgeons prefer an assembly line type of workflow. You do not need to disrupt the efficiency of that workflow.
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