APP-BASED TELE OPHTHALMOLOGY

TARGET GROUP: REMOTE RURAL POPULATION

OBJECTIVES

·        To describe a novel method of utilization of the eyeSmart EMR (electronic medical record) app to capture the demographic distribution, clinical presentation, query requested by the vision technician and management advised across 173 vision centers located across a three-tier eye care network in India.

SUMMARY

Tele-ophthalmology is a branch of telemedicine which aims to increase access to eye care for remote and rural populations across the world. ­There are various forms in tele ophthalmology which are aimed in treating the patients with different ocular diseases. Smart phones and tablets are currently used to gather the ocular images of the patient and can be shared with the ophthalmologist for further diagnosis and medical management. Boissin et al. compared the quality of image between the laptop or computer screen and smart phone and reported that the smart phone screens can be substituted with the computer or laptop screens for the detection of ocular diagnosis through a quality image. Blackwell et al. reported that the ophthalmology is suitable for treating the patients using telemedicine. ­They reported that both patients and staff are satisfied with the telemedicine services as it offers useful benefits for the patients and also enhances the skill sets of local ophthalmologists. Majority of these tele-ophthalmology services are through asynchronous methods (i.e., store-and-forward of images), some use a hybrid of real-time and store-and-forward methods and fewer used synchronous methods (e.g., Video conferencing). Maa et al. reported the outcomes of patient satisfaction (4.95 out of 5), disease detection, eyeglass remakes (0.59%), based on the technology-based eye care services (TECS) in 5 primary eye care centers in Georgia. For a wider outreach, tele-ophthalmology is gaining interest as it contributes to saving time and money involved in travel to seek an opinion of an ophthalmologist. In India, tele-ophthalmology consultations hold great potential to reach the remote rural populations to enable access to eye care due to challenges in distance and access to quality eye care.

REFERENCE:

https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8107064