Abstract
Purpose :
The purpose of this study is to ascertain the willingness and feasibility of community providers to use the ESwab culturing medium in sampling corneal ulcers. Corneal scraping is a routine step in the diagnosis and organism identification of infectious corneal ulcers, which has the potential better target therapy and improve outcomes; however, many eyecare providers will often defer corneal scraping due to lack of culturing materials, laboratory resources, comfort with the procedure, or time. The Eswab may represent an option to increase corneal ulcer sampling in the community.
Methods :
All ophthalmologists and optometrists practicing within a 15-mile radius of the University of Kentucky were identified. Interest in study participation was determined by phone, and providers who elected to participate were given an 8-question survey regarding their current approach to the diagnosis of corneal ulcer, willingness to use the Eswab, and how it would change their methodology in corneal ulcer diagnosis.
Results :
Surveys were provided to 35 providers (4 ophthalmologists, 11 optometrists). Of the 15 surveys completed, 13 (86.7%) of the providers reported one or more corneal ulcer encounters per month. Of these 13, 9 sampled 0% of ulcers and 2 others sampled fewer than 50%, with 0 providers sampling 100% of ulcers encountered. Twelve of the 13 reported that they would sample more ulcers if the ESwab was available to them, three reported they would sample 100% of ulcers with ESwab.
Conclusions :
The results of this study showed that many community ophthalmologists and optometrists may be more willing to sample corneal ulcers if provided with the ESwab culturing medium. The ESwab potentially represents a means to have more precise diagnosis of corneal ulcers in the community eye care setting, which has the potential to provide more targeted therapy and better outcomes for corneal ulcers, especially in communities with decreased access to specialized ophthalmologic care. This study was designed to ascertain interest in using the ESwab before implementing a larger study involving the utilization of the ESwab in the community setting to determine if its use will improve outcomes of corneal ulcer management. Limitations include small sample size and reporting/recall bias.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.