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EW SHOW DAILY 60 T he current definition of what constitutes a success- ful laser vision correction procedure needs to change, said Steve Schallhorn, MD, San Diego, at the "Forum for Reviewing the Latest Pearls for Improving Femtosecond and Excimer Laser Vision Correction Outcomes" on Thursday. A majority of doctors in the audience who were polled during the session indicated that they de- fined a successful LASIK procedure as 20/20 uncorrected visual acuity. Dr. Schallhorn and Louis E. Probst, MD, Chelsea, Mich., chal- lenged doctors to push for visual outcomes beyond 20/20. Driving outcomes beyond 20/20 leads to more satisfied patients as it provides them with more value from their laser vision correction so they can be better advocates for your practice, he said. Starting with getting the appro- priate testing equipment, Dr. Probst outlined the practical considerations that must be made in order to have a successful drive. It is also impor- tant to change the mindset of staff and to train them to push patients toward these outcomes, he said. Dr. Schallhorn presented data from the Ambassador Referral Pro- gram at Optical Express, which showed "true patient referrals"— referrals that resulted in a procedure being done in the patient who was referred, increased with uncorrected visual acuity beyond 20/20. The clinical metrics—the postop refraction and the uncorrected vision—are the means to the ends of having a happy patient, Dr. Schallhorn said. The future of laser vision correction Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Minnesota, said the next few years will be challenging for the laser vision correction market. While the Millennials (Genera- tion Y) are the market's next big opportunity, there are barriers that will prevent growth in the next few years. "The Millennials aren't as afraid of [LASIK] as the Baby Boomers were, and many of them are plan- ning on having laser vision correc- tion, they're just not there yet. They're still wearing contact lenses and they're still getting out of debt," he said. He emphasized that this is a different demographic from the Baby Boomer generation, and physi- cians must take the time to under- stand their mindset and make adjustments in terms of how to reach out to them. "They're quite different, they're better educated, tight-knit, tend to run in packs rather than the individ- ualistic Baby Boomer, and they get their information from the inter- net," Dr. Lindstrom said. If the LASIK industry can suc- cessfully understand and reach out to the Millennials, Shareef Mahdavi, Pleasanton, Calif., projected that the laser vision correction market will be back up at one million eyes a year at 2017. EW Editors' note: This event was supported by a grant from Abbott Medical Optics (Santa Ana, Calif.). Saturday, April 20, 2013 EyeWorld Education The present and future expectations of laser vision by Enette Ngoei EyeWorld Contributing Writer W hile many surveys provide important data for the profes- sion, most are not used to drive specific educational efforts aimed at improv- ing the practice of medicine and pa- tient outcomes. This is the objective behind the launch of an upcoming ASCRS Annual Clinical Trends Sur- vey at this year's annual meeting. The survey will ask ASCRS members key questions relating to current issues they face on a regular basis. The goal is to obtain opinions from a significant percentage of the membership and to have the results reviewed and interpreted by the ASCRS Clinical Committees. If the committees determine there exists a gap between current programming and membership viewpoints, under- standing or practice patterns, the information will be used to address future education efforts, both in the main program and through ASCRS' CME educational grants. Data col- lected from the annual survey will provide a solid basis for tracking ASCRS' progress in resolving these education gaps. Brad Fundingsland will support the development of this survey, the analysis of the results, and will assist in establishing future educational programs designed to address the identified gaps. Mr. Fundingsland has been in the ophthalmic industry for more than 20 years. EyeWorld: ASCRS has been working hard to reach out to its membership in an effort to better understand the issues, trends, and challenges that ophthalmologists face each day. The Annual Clinical Trends Survey is part of that effort. What is it all about? BF: ASCRS is initiating an an- nual membership survey with a goal of addressing some of the most com- pelling clinical issues facing the ASCRS membership, and assessing the prevailing clinical opinions, un- derstanding, and practice patterns of the membership around these topics. The survey tool will permit the members to identify their preferred category of questions (Refractive, Cataract, Refractive IOLs, etc.). The survey will then include about 40 questions on the topic and can be completed in two different ways. First, survey representatives will be at the Moscone Center with iPads giving respondents an opportunity to complete the survey before a ses- sion begins or while in the ASCRS booth. Secondly, there will be flyers onsite with QR scan codes or website links indicating how respondents can go online to complete the sur- vey on their smartphone or in their hotel room. EyeWorld: Do ASCRS members get anything if they complete the survey? BF: Yes. By completing the survey and filling in either their membership number or their email address, respondents will be entered into a raffle to win one of 15 iPads at the conclusion of the conference. In addition, they will be emailed a summary of the data shortly after the conference. EyeWorld: What are you going to do with the data you collect? BF: This data will be analyzed and presented to the ASCRS leader- ship and Clinical Committees for re- view. At that point they will determine if gaps exist between this data and recommended practice pat- terns as identified by the subspe- cialty experts. EyeWorld: If any gaps are deter- mined, how will they be resolved? BF: If educational gaps are identified, they will be used to drive future ASCRS programming and pro- vide the foundation for future CME education grant programming. The goal is for future programming to help resolve these gaps. This will be an exciting way to provide regular data and to track how specific education initiatives have changed opinions, understanding, and be- havior. EW ASCRS launching a new membership survey to help drive future education EyeWorld Staff Report Steve Schallhorn, MD

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