Abstract
Purpose :
Automated Humphrey visual field (HVF) testing is critical in diagnosing and monitoring glaucoma, but obtaining testing is a time-intensive process that may lead to extended clinic visit times for patients. Visual field testing is often scheduled as stand-alone appointments separate from the date of provider examination, but it is not currently known whether this strategy improves clinic efficiency or patient compliance with visits.
Methods :
Retrospective analysis was performed on LAC+USC ophthalmology patients with an ICD-10 coding (diagnosis of glaucoma) who were scheduled for HVF on the same day as the provider or on separate day from provider visit between 1/2/2019 and 7/28/2019. Clinic cycle time, appointment no-show rates, and patient demographics were calculated and compared for visits. An unpaired two-tailed t-test was used to compare cycle times between groups.
Results :
There were 371 same-day HVF and provider visits and 409 HVF visits scheduled separately from the provider visits. Glaucoma patients attended 195 (52.3%) of the same-day HVF and provider visits and missed 173 (46.4%) of them in their entirety. In four visits (1.08%), patents attended their HVF visit but left prior to being seen by the provider. Of the separately scheduled HVF and provider appointments, only 9 patients (2.2%) successfully attended both visits. For 328 (80.2%) of the separate visits, patients missed both visits entirely. 69 separate day visit pairs (16.87%) resulted in patients attending their provider visit only and missing their HVF visit, while 3 different day visit pairs (0.73%) resulted in patients attending only their HVF visit and missing their provider visit. Mean cycle time for patients with same day HVF and provider appointment was 4.83 hours, while combined average time spent at the clinic when HVF was separately scheduled from a provider visit was 5.81 hours. There was no statistically significant difference in combined cycle time when scheduling a separate HVF appointment (p-value = 0.30).
Conclusions :
Compared to same day HVF and provider visits, separate day HVF testing does not improve clinic cycle time and may lead to increased no-show rates in glaucoma patients in a county hospital setting.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.