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2 | 2019 ASCRS CLINICAL SURVEY CLINICAL SURVEY 2019 Cataract surgery Respondents were asked about their level of confi- dence in customizing phaco machine settings to optimally manage various types of cataracts. Almost 73% indicated they were confident or very con- fident, and only 7.8% indicated they were "un- confident" (and 0.5% were not confident at all). Furthermore, 74.9% indicated that they would be interested in increasing their knowledge about phaco parameters, while 25.1% were confident with their current understanding. "There is a disconnect between how confident ophthalmologists report they are with customizing phaco machine settings to handle different cataracts (73% are either confident or very confident) and the number who are interested in increasing their knowledge (75%) regarding phaco settings. "I have spoken to numerous phaco equipment represen- tatives from many companies over the years, and I have heard the same thing again and again. The representatives will spend a day or two optimizing default settings for surgeons at a new installation. Then, if they come back a few years later, the default settings will be the same more than 80% of the time. "This tells me several things. First, it tells me that ophthal- mologists can get through most cases with default settings. This is actually a good scenario. None of us needs to understand the inner workings of a combustion engine to drive a car. So why should an ophthalmologist have to understand how a phaco machine works? It also tells me that ophthalmologists can make the 'hammer' work no matter what the 'nail' looks like. They will take longer, go slower, use more fluid, push farther down on the pedal, etc., but they will get through the case without changing the settings." Kevin Miller, MD ASCRS Cataract Clinical Committee WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE IN CUSTOMIZING YOUR PHACO MACHINE SETTINGS TO OPTIMALLY MANAGE VARIOUS TYPES OF CATARACTS? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT CUSTOMIZING YOUR PHACO MACHINE SETTINGS TO OPTIMALLY MANAGE VARIOUS TYPES OF CATARACTS?

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