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Gagan Kalra ORCID Icon, Patrick W. Commiskey, Tadhg Schempf, Andrew M. Williams, Eve M. R. Bowers, Evan L. Waxman & show all
Received 01 Jun 2020, Accepted 04 Feb 2021, Published online: 27 Feb 2021
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To examine the uptake, results, and patient assessment of virtual inpatient ophthalmology consultations at our academic medical center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design: Retrospective review, pre and post COVID analysis, and teleophthalmology patient survey in the inpatient and emergency setting.
Participants: Adult patients at our medical center for whom ophthalmology consultation was requested from February 24 through April 19, 2020.
Methods: Patient encounters were retrieved and coded for all inpatient and emergency room ophthalmology consultations over a 4-week period before and a 4-week period after our department first offered virtual ophthalmology consultations. These consultations took place over real-time video, audio, or photography between the on-call ophthalmologist and the patient and/or patient’s primary physician. A four-item questionnaire was offered to patients who completed a virtual consultation.
Main Outcome Measures: Virtual consultation diagnoses and management outcomes; patient assessment of virtual inpatient and emergent ophthalmic care.
Results: Of all 423 included encounters, 258 (61%) occurred during the 4 weeks before offering virtual consultations and 165 (39%) encounters occurred during the subsequent 4-week period, indicating a 36% decrease in ophthalmology consultations over this pandemic period. A total of 120 (28%) encounters were conducted remotely during the 8-week period. In-person emergency department (ED) encounters (as percent of total encounters) decreased from 60% to 36% (p < .01) between the first and eighth weeks of the study period. In the 4 weeks since their implementation, virtual inpatient ophthalmology consultations were utilized in 34 of 165 (21%) consultations. Of those, 20 (59%) were high acuity and 1 (3%) was escalated to the ED for in-person evaluation. Most common management decisions made included medication prescription in 46 (55%) patients and scheduling follow-up for 44 (30%) patients. In a survey administered to all 120 patients who were managed over phone or video, 56 (47%) responded. Respondents were in general agreement (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92) and expressed satisfaction with phone and virtual encounters. Specifically, 42 (49%) of 86 patients who had phone encounters noted a mean weighted satisfaction score of 4.6 out of 5 and 14 (41%) responders of 34 virtual consultation encounters noted a mean weighted satisfaction score of 4.9 out of 5. The difference between the average weighted satisfaction scores favored virtual consultation over telephone encounters (p < .01).
Conclusions: Virtual inpatient ophthalmology consultations are feasible and have reported high patient satisfaction. Implementing video-based technologies to deliver high-acuity ophthalmic triage and management may help to promote patient and provider safety. In our experience, patients favored virtual consultation over telephone encounters.
Background: COVID-19 has had a major impact on health-care provision. Social distancing will impact the organization of outpatient clinics (OCs) and require general restructuring of health care.
Methods: Our retinal team participated in a structured fact-finding session to implement social distancing of patients and staff in wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) clinics. Clinic flow and performance were continually reviewed and improved. A retrospective audit of all wAMD follow-up appointments was conducted for 4 weeks from the start of the UK lockdown. A search for clinical guidance regarding retinal services was performed on the homepages of international professional bodies. The guidelines were compared to the implemented changes in our wAMD social distancing OCs (SDOCs) and potential risk examined.
Results: The changes in clinic setup to achieve SDOCs are described. The average total time spent in the clinic area by each patient has reduced by 27%. The audit concluded that 65% of patients needed a treatment interval of 4– 7 weeks after their appointment, 17% at either 8 or 9 weeks, and 18% at 10 weeks or beyond. The UK, Australian–New Zealand, US, and German professional ophthalmology bodies have published divergent guidelines, but all recommended a continuation of anti-VEGF injections.
Conclusion: Health-care provision will change and hospitals and outpatient facilities will have to adapt to the COVID-19 epidemic. We describe a clinic setup (SDOCs) that minimizes risk to patients and staff, while maintaining the ability to treat each patient and their disease individually.
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S269596
Rosario Gulias-Cañizo,1 Estela D’Abril Ruíz-Leyja,2 Valeria Sánchez-Huerta,2 Lenin Ochoa-de la Paz2,3
1Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac México, Huixquilucan, Edo. de México, México; 2Asociación Para Evitar la Ceguera en México I.A.P. Hospital Dr. Luis Sánchez Bulnes, Mexico City, 04020, Mexico; 3Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico
Correspondence: Lenin Ochoa-de la Paz Email [email protected]
Purpose: In December 2019 there was the first report about a new viral infection in Wuhan, China. The new virus was taxonomically designed as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 uses the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for cell invasion, which is expressed in different tissues including lungs, small intestine, testicles, kidneys, brain, and the eye. The purpose of this article is to review the available information on the relationship of COVID-19 with the eye, as well as evaluating the possible usefulness of ocular diagnostic tests to help in the diagnosis and/or monitoring of patients with this disease.
Methods: We performed a retrospective review of relevant articles from November 2019 to April 2020.
Results: Ocular infection by SARS-CoV-2 is still controversial; nevertheless, the possibility of being a viral reservoir has been suggested, increasing the likelihood of infection. Some reports demonstrated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in tears, and previously published data suggest a pathological increase of cytokine concentrations in COVID-19 patients; the cytokine release syndrome or cytokine storm contributes to lung and central nervous system damage. The usefulness of tears for the measurement of inflammatory cytokines in various diseases is well known, in particular IL-6, which has been correlated to the severity of COVID-19.
Conclusion: Considering that the IL-6 signaling cascade may be activated in patients with COVID-19, makes it an excellent target for diagnostic and/or monitoring purposes.
Keywords: eye, SARS-COV-2, COVID-19, tear film, IL-6, cytokine release syndrome, tear sampling
