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Pattern of eye casualty clinic cases
Ehab I Wasfi1, Randeep Sharma, Emma Powditch
1Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. alaaawny@hotmail.com.
International Archives of Medicine
|July 29, 2008
Summary
Many patients attending eye casualty clinics do not have emergencies and could be managed by General Practitioners or nurse practitioners. Optimizing referrals can reduce eye casualty workload by 38.6%.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Emergency Medicine
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Eye Casualty Clinics (ECC) manage ocular emergencies.
- A significant number of patients attending ECC lack acute conditions.
- These patients could potentially be managed by General Practitioners (GPs) or eye outpatient clinics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine daily attendance and referral routes at an ECC.
- To estimate the proportion of patients manageable by an Ophthalmic Nurse Practitioner (ONP).
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of patient records from an ECC.
- Data collected over a two-week period in March 2006.
- Inclusion of patient demographics, referral source, and presenting condition.
Main Results:
- Average daily attendance: 21 patients.
- 34.2% self-referred without GP letters.
- 25.6% of assessable patients could have been managed by an ONP.
Conclusions:
- Workload reduction of 38.6% is achievable for eye casualty doctors.
- Implementation of defined patient categories for ONP management is recommended.
- Improved referral pathways to General Clinics and appropriate follow-up protocols are necessary.
