Planning makes perfect, says Dr Leigh Spielberg
Streamlining a process eliminates the confusion involved with extraneous tasks and concerns


Leigh Spielberg
Published: Tuesday, February 7, 2017

A more efficient system is a safer systemI have been concentrating on what happens from the moment I plan a surgical procedure to the moment the patient leaves the operating room. A clear, concise, 1-page surgical planning document has, I think, helped everyone involved know what’s going on (What’s the diagnosis? What’s our plan? What do we need to carry it out? Vision blue? ILM blue? Membrane blue?) and how we’re going to achieve it. My colleagues in the planning department have received clarified instructions on how to plan procedures, with unambiguous documents and materials lists for each specific operation. The nurses in the operating room greatly appreciate this simplification. Everything moves more quickly, despite less effort being expended. I’ve had a lot of help. My colleague, Thierry Derveaux, returned from his phaco fellowship full of insight into how a well-run and highly professional clinic works, along with the energy and motivation to make it happen. The resident currently rotating through the operating room, Geraldine Accou, is highly organised, well-prepared. As we say in NY, she gets the job done. No procrastination, no forgetting, no nonsense. Ever since I spent many of my first days in the university hospital working until 7pm, either supervising the clinic or operating, two of my (many) goals have been the following: first, to finish the workday earlier. Second, to see more patients every day. My goals have seemed to many to be mutually exclusive. I disagree. Dr Leigh Spielberg is a vitreoretinal and cataract surgeon at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium
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