Shared Care and Virtual Clinics for Glaucoma in a Hospital Setting

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Glaucoma necessitates lifelong management, with rising prevalence straining hospital eye departments.
• Current ophthalmologist-led services face capacity challenges.
• Innovative care delivery models are essential to meet growing demand.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate shared care (SC) and virtual clinics (VCs) as alternative glaucoma care models.
• To compare SC and VCs against standard ophthalmologist-led care.
• To assess the impact of non-medical staff involvement in glaucoma management.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was performed across PubMed, Embase, and Trip databases.
• Abstracts from five annual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meetings were reviewed.
• Twenty-nine studies (14 on SC, 15 on VCs) were included, focusing on low-risk glaucoma patients.

Main Results:

• Both shared care and virtual clinics demonstrated good quality of care, especially with trained non-medical staff (primarily optometrists).
• These alternative models enhanced hospital efficiency without evidence of patient disadvantage.
• No negative impact on patient experience was observed due to reduced doctor visits.

Conclusions:

• Shared care and virtual clinics are effective alternative models for managing glaucoma patients.
• These approaches offer a promising solution to address capacity issues in hospital eye care.
• Increased responsibility for trained non-medical staff can improve healthcare efficiency in glaucoma management.