Effect of a patient training video on visual field test reliability

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Automated visual field testing is crucial for diagnosing and monitoring glaucoma.
• Patient understanding and cooperation are vital for reliable visual field test results.
• First-time patients may lack familiarity with the visual field test procedure, potentially impacting reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of an educational video on the reliability of the initial automated visual field test in new patients.
• To determine if familiarizing patients with the visual field test procedure improves data accuracy.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted with patients referred for suspected glaucoma.
• Patients were randomized to receive a 4.5-minute educational video or standard care (control group).
• Visual field test reliability was assessed using established criteria for fixation loss, false positives, and false negatives.

Main Results:

• A total of 244 patients were recruited (112 video group, 132 control group).
• Overall reliability significantly improved in the video group (75.9%) compared to the control group (61.4%) (p=0.015).
• The improvement was particularly significant for the second tested eye (86.6% reliable in video group vs. 73.5% in control group, p=0.011).

Conclusions:

• A brief audiovisual educational video enhances patient reliability in first-time visual field tests.
• The video's primary benefit was reducing unreliable results from the second tested eye.
• This intervention offers a simple method to improve data quality in glaucoma diagnostics.