Cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed operations in ophthalmology. It follows a standardized flow in which set examinations and procedures are performed at set times—from preoperative examinations to surgery and follow-up on the day after surgery, one week after, and one month after. If this flow is run relying on paper pathway sheets or staff memory, missed postoperative appointments, skipped examinations, and inconsistent records tend to occur. This article explains the approach to automating the cataract clinical pathway in the electronic chart and the points for reliably running postoperative examinations and appointments.
What is a cataract clinical pathway?
A clinical pathway is a care plan that organizes, in chronological order, the standard content and timing of examinations, procedures, and explanations for a specific disease or surgery. Because the process of cataract surgery is relatively standardized, it is a representative area well suited to pathways.
The general flow of cataract surgery can be roughly organized as follows (specific examination items and timing vary by facility policy).
- Preoperative: Examinations such as visual acuity, refraction, intraocular pressure, corneal curvature, and axial length; determining IOL power; surgical explanation and obtaining consent
- Day of surgery: Performing the surgery, intraoperative records, postoperative eye-drop instructions
- Postoperative day 1: Checking visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and the anterior segment
- Postoperative week 1: Checking the wound and inflammation, visual acuity, and intraocular pressure
- Postoperative month 1: Confirming stability of visual acuity and refraction, and considering glasses prescription as needed
When surgery is performed on one eye at a time, this flow runs twice, offset in time for the right and left eyes, making management even more complex.
Problems that tend to arise with paper or manual pathway operation
When the pathway is run on paper—or even with an electronic chart, when the pathway is laid out by hand—the following problems tend to arise.
- Missed postoperative appointments: Not all postoperative visit dates are secured at the time of surgery booking, and the patient misses the window without coming in
- Skipped examination items: Examinations needed at that time are not performed or not recorded
- Confusion in managing left and right eyes: In bilateral surgery, it becomes hard to tell which eye is on which postoperative day
- Inconsistent records: The level of detail differs by staff member, making postoperative courses hard to compare
- Staff burden: Creating and checking pathway sheets and coordinating appointments must be done by hand every time
Missed postoperative appointments in particular can lead to lost opportunities for early detection of complications. If appointments and medical records are split across separate systems, this problem becomes even more likely. For appointment operations in ophthalmology, where examinations and consultations are mixed, see How to Choose a Reservation System for Ophthalmology.
The benefits of automatically laying out the pathway in the electronic chart
If postoperative examinations, procedures, and visit schedules can be automatically laid out in the electronic chart starting from the surgery date, many of the problems above can be prevented by design.
- Automatic schedule generation: Enter the surgery date, and schedules for postoperative day 1, day 7, month 1, and so on are laid out automatically
- Standardized examination items: Examinations and procedures for each stage are set in advance, preventing omissions
- Clear management by eye: Because the pathway is laid out per eye, courses are less likely to be confused even in bilateral surgery
- Easier comparison of records: Because the same items are recorded at the same stages, trends in postoperative visual acuity and intraocular pressure are easy to compare
- Reduced staff burden: Manual work for creating pathway sheets and listing appointments can be reduced
What also matters in pathway operation is noticing "deviations." If patients who have not come in as scheduled, or patients whose intraocular pressure is higher than expected, can be identified early, this can lead to individual follow-up. Having the data together on one foundation is the prerequisite.
Supporting postoperative appointments from the patient side as well
To have patients reliably attend postoperative checkups, guidance to the patient is important, not just in-clinic schedule management. Many patients undergoing cataract surgery are elderly, and forgetting the next visit date is not unusual.
- Clearly inform patients of the next visit date
- Send reminders as the visit date approaches
- Make it easy for patients to change or confirm appointments themselves
If such patient-facing mechanisms are linked with the electronic chart, the pathway schedule laid out in the clinic flows directly into guidance for the patient, and the burden of coordinating appointments by phone can also be reduced. For the concept of PHR (personal health record apps for patients), see also What Is a PHR?.
The cataract clinical pathway in AI Karte Ophthalmology
"AI Karte Ophthalmology," developed by Pottech, is an AI-native electronic chart that handles cataract care from before to after surgery on a single foundation. For the parts related to the clinical pathway, it offers the following features.
- Cataract clinical pathway: Automatically lays out the examinations and procedures for surgery → day 1 → day 7 → 1 month
- Surgery management and consent: Surgery booking, preoperative/intraoperative/postoperative records, and PDF generation of explanation and consent forms
- IOL power calculation: Automatically calculates the optimal IOL power from preoperative axial length for cataract surgery
- Ophthalmic examination entry: 11 types, including visual acuity, refraction, intraocular pressure, corneal curvature, and OCT, entered and tracked separately for each eye
- AI next-appointment recommendations: AI recommends next appointments such as postoperative checkups
Furthermore, AI Karte Ophthalmology is fully linked with the patient-facing PHR app "Potekkun" on the same data foundation. When the AI in the clinic recommends a next appointment (such as a postoperative checkup), the patient receives appointment guidance in Potekkun and can book with one tap. It also supports appointment reminders via LINE integration, so you can build a mechanism that prevents missed postoperative checkups from the patient side as well. It also manages eye drops and prescription medications with reminders, which helps support continued postoperative eye-drop use.
Preoperative IOL power calculation and data integration are explained in detail in Completing Cataract-Surgery IOL Power Calculation in the Electronic Chart. For an overall picture of why AI Karte excels in ophthalmology, see Why AI Karte Is Strong in Ophthalmology.
In closing
Precisely because cataract surgery is a standardized process, it is an area where much can be run by mechanisms. By automatically laying out the clinical pathway in the electronic chart and connecting appointments, records, and patient guidance on a single foundation, you can prevent missed postoperative checkups while greatly reducing staff manual work. Physicians can then spend their time on the judgments they should truly focus on, such as individual responses to patients who deviate from the pathway.
Through the provision of AI Karte, Pottech serves as the optimal business partner for clinics—supporting not only better working conditions for physicians, nurses, and medical clerical staff, but also helping clinics achieve to the fullest what they want to accomplish.
For details, please contact us.