1.Awareness of the Patients with Senile Cataract. Experience in the Preoperative Orientation.
Atsuko ITOH ; Etsuko WAKAMATSU ; Kiyo SUZUKI ; Kiyomi ARAKAWA ; Chikako YASHIRO ; Etsuko HATAKEYAMA ; Tetsuko SAITO ; Chieko MIYAGI ; Tomomi TERUI ; Ichiko KUDO ; Nobuko SATO ; Akiko SHIBATA
Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 1995;44(4):569-572
A total of 78 patients were operated on for senile cataract in our hospital in 1985. The number almost doubled to 142 in 1992, more than 90 percent of whom received the intraocular lens. We asked each patient postoperatively to submit a questionnaire, and found the greatest inconvenience suffered before surgery was the difficulty in reading the letters. Patients with senile cataract have anxiety due to extremely weak eyesight, therefore, we believe it is very important for them to receive orientation before the operation. Until recently, we used the B5-sized (10.12″×7.17″) leaflet for a guide to the operation, but the type was too small for them to read. We renewed the guide by using a F8-sized (17.95″× 14.96″) sketch book. We put them in the sickrooms Just before they patients left our hospital, we asked them for their opinion about the guide. 90 percent of the patients said that they were satisfied with the size of the type, all of them said that the contents are easy to understand, and 50 percent said they read the guide more than twice.
In conclusion, we found that the sketch book, full of illustrations, was quite convenient for senile patients and read repeatedly. It was also a great help to them, because it gave them encouragement and made it easy for them to prepare themselves for the operation.