Complication rate during resident cataract surgery is related to supervisory experience of staff

Purpose. To determine whether the supervisory experience level of staff in resident cataract surgery is a factor in the incidence of operative complications Methods. Records of all resident cataract surgery at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital performed between October, 1993 and September, 1996 were retrospectively examined Results. There were 52 operative complications in 537 cases, most being vitreous loss The complication rate in cases supervised by staff with 10 or fewer resident cases per year was 12.6% The complication rate in cases supervised by staff with more than 10 resident cases per year was 7 9% This difference was statistically significant (p<0 036) Conclusions. One factor influencing the rate of operative complications in resident cataract surgery is the experience level of the supervising surgeon in staffing resident cases.