The COVID-19 pandemic will redefine the future delivery of glaucoma care

Jayaram, Hari; Strouthidis, Nicholas G.; Gazzard, Gus

doi:10.1038/s41433-020-0958-1

Cited by 45 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The need for social distancing may accelerate the movement towards other consultation methods, such as virtual clinics with clinical data acquisition outside the hospital facilities in a shared-care scheme. 22 This could also be done for screening efforts, such as those regarding diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. 23 Residents could benefit from a formal incorporation of telemedicine/virtual patient visits into their residency curriculum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Training in Portugal

Silva¹,

Laiginhas²,

Meireles³

et al. 2020

Acta Med Port

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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to provide objective and real-life data concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemicon ophthalmology residency training in Portugal.Material and Methods: Descriptive survey-based study applied to current Portuguese ophthalmology residents (n = 80 eligible).Results: Seventy-five residents participated (94% response rate). All except one (99%) admitted a change in their routine clinical practice during the pandemic, and most (89%) continued to be engaged in ophthalmology department duties. Twenty-five percent were deployed to COVID-19 units, which was combined with ophthalmological activities in about half of them (47%). A significant proportion of participants stated that they were enrolled in the following ophthalmological activities: emergency/inpatient care (87%), outpatient visits (73%; general 70% vs subspecialty 29%), and surgical procedures (64%). Twenty-five percent did not assist in any outpatient visits and 36% did not participate in any surgical procedures. On a scale from 1 (no impact) to 5 (maximum impact), most participants classified their perceived negative impact of the pandemic on the training program as 3 (24%), 4 (40%), or 5 (27%). Participants highly agreed with the extension of the residency program (80%) in order to to make up for training disruption.Discussion: Most trainees provided ophthalmological care during the pandemic. However, those clinical activities were essentially related to general and emergency care. Surgical experience was significantly curtailed. As such, strategies are needed to guarantee a high-quality learning process. Further studies are required to develop an international perspective on how ophthalmology training programs have been affected so that educational organizations can make recommendations regarding standardized adjustments to training programs.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the training of ophthalmology residents nationwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Training in Portugal

Silva¹,

Laiginhas²,

Meireles³

et al. 2020

Acta Med Port

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“…In accordance with previous studies [7,8,11], a possible explanation of these findings could be the patient's fear of being infected. During the pandemic, people's priority was preserving life [5]. Sight-threatening conditions together with life-threatening ones were considered less important.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The only guaranteed services were the emergencies. We have tried to provide care at home through telemedicine but this kind of service is suitable for chronic patients or for viewing and commenting on instrumental exams, but not for patients who are acutely ill [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ophthalmological emergencies and the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

et al. 2020

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Since the end of 2019, an outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread rapidly worldwide causing thousands of deaths. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is supported by SARS-CoV-2 and represents the causative agent of a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern. Italy has been the first European country recording an elevated number of infected forcing the Italian Government to call for total lockdown. The lockdown had the aim to limit the spread of infection through social distancing. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the pandemic has affected the patient's accesses to the Ophthalmological Emergency Department of a tertiary referral center in central-northern Italy, during the lockdown period. The charts of all patients that came to the Emergency Department during the lockdown period (March 10-May 4, 2020) have been retrospectively collected and compared with those in the same period of 2019 and the period from 15 January-9 March 2020. A significant reduction of visits during the lockdown has been observed, compared with those of pre-lockdown period (reduction of 65.4%) and with those of the same period of 2019 (reduction of 74.3%). Particularly, during the lockdown, minor and not urgency visits decreased whereas the undeferrable urgency ones increased. These pieces of evidence could be explained by the fear of patients to be infected; but also revealed patients misuse of emergency services.

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“…Overall, the majority of ICD-10 codes for glaucomatous conditions increased in frequency signi cantly post-COVID 19, re ecting the continued need for in-person intraocular pressure monitoring. 18 In comparison, pediatric ophthalmology experienced a decrease in routine screening for ocular disorders in patients with congenital or chromosomal abnormalities and strabismus evaluations, but the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening code frequency did not signi cantly decrease. Guidelines for seeing pediatric ophthalmology patients have been offered and include patients risk for amblyopia, requiring evaluation for leukocoria or congenital glaucoma, infection, or nystagmus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Patient Visits and Diagnoses seen in an Academic Ophthalmology Department during the COVID-19 pandemic

Berkenstock¹,

Liberman

McDonnell

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND: To minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face to face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions, in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. The impact of this is unknown. METHODS: We did a retrospective analysis of the change in the frequency of ICD-10 code use and patient volumes in the six weeks before and after the changes in clinical practice associated with COVID-19.RESULTS: The total number of encounters decreased four-fold after the implementation of clinic changes associated with COVID-19. The low vision, pediatric ophthalmology, general ophthalmology, and cornea divisions had the largest decrease of in-person visits. Conversely, telemedicine visits increased sixty-fold. The number of diagnostic codes associated with ocular malignancies, most ocular inflammatory disorders, and retinal conditions requiring intravitreal injections increased. ICD-10 codes associated with ocular screening exams for systemic disorders decreased during the weeks post COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmology practices need to be prepared to experience changes in practice patterns, implementation of telemedicine, and decreased patient volumes during a pandemic. Knowing the changes specific to each subspecialty clinic is vital to redistribute available resources correctly.

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The COVID-19 pandemic will redefine the future delivery of glaucoma care

Cited by 45 publications

References 10 publications

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Training in Portugal

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Training in Portugal

Ophthalmological emergencies and the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

Changes in Patient Visits and Diagnoses seen in an Academic Ophthalmology Department during the COVID-19 pandemic

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