Statistical research in the operating room. Study on risk factors in cataract development

: This investigation carried out its field work in the surgery rooms at the Malva-Rosa Hospital in Valencia. Its specific objective is the perform a statistical analysis of the various factors which bear an influence on the formation of cataracts due to aging, but moreover, to demonstrate that good coordination on a surgical team makes it possible to integrate research and investigation in nursing into the daily tasks of a hospital. In order to accomplish that goal, we have studied a sample of 500 patients who underwent cataract surgery by our team in this hospital, using the same surgical technique, phacoemulsification and topic anesthesia, in every case. For each patient, during the ophthalmologic pre-surgery procedures, we fill in a questionnaire in which we record all the parameters under study. All this data has been processed in a data base which allows us to correlate the influence of varying factors, such as age, sex, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol, or hypertension, in the formation of cataracts. We highlight three basic aspects in our study: we describe the nursing experience undergone, we present a few basic traits of the computer program developed, and we show the results obtained for some of the parameters analyzed.