Impact of Resident Participation in Cataract Surgery on Operative Time and Cost

Objective To investigate the impact of resident participation in cataract surgery on operative time and cost. Design Retrospective chart review. Participants All patients who underwent phacoemulsification cataract surgery by an attending or resident surgeon of the Penn State Hershey Eye Center between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2007. Methods Operating room records of all phacoemulsification surgeries performed at a single academic center between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2007, were reviewed. Main Outcome Measures Operative case length in minutes and cost of operating room time. Results The primary surgeon was an attending physician in 474 cases and a senior resident physician in 473 cases. Phacoemulsification surgeries took an average of 12 minutes 41 seconds longer per eye when performed by a senior resident compared with an attending surgeon (95% confidence interval [CI], 1 minute 48 seconds to 23 minutes 35 seconds; P = 0.027). Resident cases averaged 63 minutes in July, and decreased to an average of 27 minutes in June. Every month from July through December of the academic year, the monthly mean operative case length for resident cases was significantly longer than the mean operative case length for attending cases ( P