Abstract
Purpose :
Each year 2.5 million eye injuries occur in the United States, many of which can lead to permanent vision loss. Ophthalmological examination is of vital importance to distinguish between benign and truly urgent conditions that can lead to vision loss. Hence, an ophthalmology consult service is necessary for prompt ophthalmological evaluation and treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the most common reasons for ophthalmology consultations in both the emergency and inpatient settings at large level I trauma center in Detroit, Michigan. Also, we evaluated the educational and surgical experience of the ophthalmology residents at a large urban medical center.
Methods :
We reviewed the medical records of all patients evaluated by the ophthalmology consultation service at Detroit Medical Center during 2012, 2014 and 2018. We categorized emergency room and inpatient consults based on diagnosis, types of procedures, trauma, and whether urgent surgical intervention was needed.
Results :
In total, over a thousand patients were evaluated by the ophthalmology consult service during the years 2012, 2014, and 2018. The mean (SD) age of patients presenting with ophthalmic problems was 32 (20) years, mostly males (57.90%) of african american race (90.3%). Overall, the most common reason for consultation was traumatic eye injury (27.6%) with the most common final diagnoses being corneal injury (18.6%), eyelid injury (26.9%) and orbital wall fracture (20.6%). The most common reason for inpatient consult was to rule out ocular manifestations of systemic diseases (28.6%). Overall, 10.9% of all consultations required emergent surgical intervention with the most common being rupture globe and canalicular laceration repair.
Conclusions :
Identifying epidemiological and consultations patterns allows for real world analysis of the ophthalmology service at a large urban hospital. Healthcare policy makers should take into account the profile and specialized needs of patients presenting with ophthalmic problems and their resource utilisation in the hospital. Additionally, this study shows that the consult service enriches the training of ophthalmology resident by providing a wide variety of pathology, trauma, and surgical experience.This first hand clinical experience is unique and different from the traditional outpatient clinic setting.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.