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Ophthalmologists lack ability to cater to visually impaired patients, study says
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Negligible improvement has been made in the registration rates of visually impaired patients over the past decade in England’s registration system, and ophthalmologists do not have the necessary knowledge to meet those patients’ needs, according to a local study.
R.J. Barry and P.I. Murray at the University of Birmingham, England, examined the medical records of all patients attending general ophthalmology outpatient clinics over a 3-month period. They also conducted a questionnaire survey assessing the knowledge of registration practices of 35 ophthalmologists working in the West Midlands.
A total of 146 patients were eligible for blind or partial sight registration or had a completed registration form already. Of those, 65 (45%) were unregistered, with 18 blind patients and 47 partially sighted patients.
In addition, 32 registered patients seemed to be inappropriately registered. Partially sighted patients were more likely to be unregistered than blind patients, and patients from ethnic minorities were more than three times more likely to be unregistered than white patients.
The study is published in the August issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.