Day care and inpatient cataract patient satisfaction with in-patient services at a Jiangsu public tertiary A hospital.

BACKGROUND

The high prevalence of cataracts and low surgery rates are serious public health problems in China, but have improved with the promotion of day surgery. We compared the clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction between day surgery and inpatient surgery and provided recommendations for improving the government’s healthcare policy for day surgery.

METHODS

A total of 200 day surgery patients and 200 hospitalized patients underwent cataract surgery, after which questionnaires were completed and returned. General condition (gender, education, age etc.), best-corrected visual acuity, occurrence of complications, length of hospitalization, hospital expenses, and satisfaction during hospitalization were investigated in both groups.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in preoperative and postoperative best-corrected visual acuity between the two groups (p > 0.05). Patients who underwent inpatient surgery lived farther away and tended to take public transportation to the clinic. Day surgery showed some advantages in terms of hospitalization time, hospitalization cost, and satisfaction with the handling of hospitalization procedures (p < 0.05); however, in terms of health promotion and handling problems encountered by patients, inpatient surgery patients were more satisfied (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Ambulatory cataract surgery is more cost-effective and efficient than traditional inpatient surgery; however, while focusing on efficiency, health promotion and patient communication should be strengthened to enhance patients’ sense of belonging, and inpatient surgery should be offered to patients who have difficulty accessing the clinic.