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Guard your professional reputation with proper OSD management
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The February 2014 article, “Provide more effective care with dry eye, red eye protocols” by J. James Thimons, OD, brings to light the fact that ocular surface disease is one of the most frequently seen and discussed topics in the eye care field.
According to MarketScope, approximately 25 million Americans report suffering from dry eye.
A 2012 national Gallop poll reported that out of the 751 adults interviewed who had dry eye, only 62% discussed this issue with their eye care physician. However, this was not the main reason for the patient seeing his or her eye care provider and, as a result, ocular surface disease (OSD) was not formally assessed.
Mel Friedman
It is this type of patient that can cause a practitioner’s reputation to be compromised.
The patient who is not formally assessed for OSD but is then referred for cataract surgery can have a profound negative influence on your professional reputation both from the patient’s point of view as well as the surgical physician’s perspective.
Derek Cunningham, OD, has said that the ocular surface can influence the outcome of cataract surgery by as much as 1 D.
Subba Gollamudi, MD, a surgeon in Memphis, estimated that between 50% and 80% of patients referred to him for cataract surgery have signs of OSD.
When patients with OSD are referred for surgery, it reflects poorly on everyone because the procedure should be postponed until the corneal surface issues are resolved.
Appropriate management will positively affect surgical outcomes and patient relationships, and this condition should be diagnosed and treated in the optometrist’s office.