Abstract
Purpose :
Telemedicine-based applications may play a significant role in the future of ophthalmology. A comparison study was performed which used the fundus camera and the direct ophthalmoscope in order to assess the camera's viability as a low-cost alternative for physicians. A fundus camera is a smartphone equipped with the D-EYE lens that works similarly to a direct ophthalmoscope to produce digital retinal imaging. Also, we surveyed the advantages and disadvantages of each device.
Methods :
Twenty-five medical students were given 30 minutes of instruction on how to use the direct ophthalmoscope (DO) and D-EYE (D-EYE Srl, Padova, Italy; https://www.d-eyecare.com) by a pediatric ophthalmologist (PO). After completing the training, they used two methods to view the fundus of the eye under dim light on two undilated patients under direct supervision of the PO. D-EYE video imaging of the optic nerve was obtained by locating the red reflex and moving the device at 15 degrees temporally until 1 cm from the eye, on a patient instructed to fixate on an object 10 meters away. Each student had to describe their findings and show the video taken from the smartphone to the PO. Students also completed a survey rating their experience using each method.
Results :
In rating their preferred device, 92% of participants preferred the D-EYE over the DO. Also, the students were able to identify the optic nerve and macula in a shorter amount of time, and were able to review the images from the D-EYE to confirm their findings. Overall, the medical students show a very strong preference for the D-EYE that was statistically significant (p<.001).
Conclusions :
The D-EYE is a viable tool that could be incorporated into medical education and practice for utility in future physician performance. Feedback indicated the D-EYE is intuitive to use, with features that offer greater utility than the DO. It has the ability to record fundus exams and facilitate communication between patient-physician and physician-physician regarding a patient’s eye disease. Survey results also showed five students rated the D-EYE as more difficult to use initially, though three of them ultimately preferred the D-EYE due to the recording features and larger image of the fundus. Further studies comparing the D-EYE to the DO in identifying eye pathologies are warranted to increase our understanding of the device’s clinical utility.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.