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Study finds good agreement between optometrists, ophthalmologists for emergency eye care
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Optometrists can be safely added to the staff of an eye hospital's accident and emergency department, a study by British researchers suggests. Investigators found good agreement in diagnoses and management plans between optometrists and a consulting ophthalmologist for patients evaluated in the study, the authors said.
Scott Hau, OD, and colleagues at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, investigated optometrists' abilities to correctly identify and manage emergency patients presenting with different ocular conditions. The study included 150 randomly selected patients, each initially examined by one of two senior optometrists and then by a consultant ophthalmologist who was blinded to the optometrists' plans.
The researchers found that the ophthalmologist's and optometrists' diagnoses were in agreement for 89.3% of cases and management plans were in agreement for 79.3% of cases, according to the study.
Neither optometrist misdiagnosed any sight-threatening conditions, the authors noted.
The study is published in the April issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.