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Does doctors' experience matter in LASIK surgeries?

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  • Juan M. Contreras
  • Beomsoo Kim
  • Ignez M. Tristao

Abstract

In this article, we use a longitudinal census of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) eye surgeries collected directly from patient charts to examine the learning‐by‐doing hypothesis in medicine. LASIK surgery has precise measures of presurgical condition and postsurgical outcomes. Unlike other types of surgery, the impact of unobservable underlying patient conditions on outcomes is minimal. Individual learning by doing is identified through observations of surgical outcomes over time, based on the cumulative number of surgeries performed. Collective learning is identified separately, through changes in a group adjustment rule determined jointly by all the surgeons in a structured internal review process. Our unique data set overcomes some of the measurement problems in patient outcomes encountered in other studies and improves the possibility of identifying and separating the impact of learning by doing from other effects. We cannot conclude that the outcome of LASIK surgery improves as an individual surgeon's experience increases, but we find strong evidence that experience accumulated by surgeons as a group in a clinic significantly improves outcomes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan M. Contreras & Beomsoo Kim & Ignez M. Tristao, 2011. "Does doctors' experience matter in LASIK surgeries?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(6), pages 699-722, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:20:y:2011:i:6:p:699-722
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.1626
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Yauheniya Varabyova & Carl Rudolf Blankart & Jonas Schreyögg, 2017. "The Role of Learning in Health Technology Assessments: An Empirical Assessment of Endovascular Aneurysm Repairs in German Hospitals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S1), pages 93-108, February.
    4. Lundborg, Petter & James, Stefan & Lagerqvist, Bo & Vikström, Johan, 2021. "Learning-by-Doing and Productivity Growth among High-Skilled Workers: Evidence from the Treatment of Heart Attacks," IZA Discussion Papers 14744, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sarah S. Stith, 2018. "Organizational learning-by-doing in liver transplantation," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 25-45, March.

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