Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Retina. 2010 Apr;30(4):635-9. doi: 10.1097/iae.0b013e3181cbda20.
The purpose of this study was to establish and evaluate a nationwide telephone counseling for patients with retinal diseases hotline in Germany against the background of an increasing demand for information and counseling in the field of retina services as a result of current demographic trends.
The telephone Retina Hotline was installed, advertised, and run for 1.5 years at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, and open to callers from the whole of Germany. The hotline was staffed by ophthalmologists. Calls were handled according to standard flow charts and counsel given adhered to a list of standardized answers as appropriate in the individual case. All calls were documented in an online database, which was subsequently analyzed and used for evaluation.
A total of 1,384 calls were documented leading to an average of 7.6 calls per afternoon. The average length of calls was 8.5 minutes. The majority of callers were female patients (63%) who had age-related macular degeneration. Only 17% of callers were relatives. Most callers (59%) were >60 years of age. The majority of questions were related to therapeutic options for dry or neovascular age-related macular degeneration as well as various forms of retinitis pigmentosa (45%).
A service such as the Retina Hotline seems necessary and well justified against the background of need for information and support documented. However, on the basis of an adequate computer program and a standard catalog of answers or flow charts, it may not need to be staffed by ophthalmologists, but well-trained nonmedical staff may be sufficient.
本研究旨在德国建立并评估一条全国性视网膜疾病电话咨询热线，这是基于当前人口趋势下视网膜服务领域对信息和咨询日益增长的需求。
在波恩大学眼科，安装、宣传并运行电话视网膜热线长达 1.5 年，热线对全德国的来电者开放。热线由眼科医生负责。根据标准流程图处理来电，并根据具体情况提供标准化答案列表。所有来电均记录在在线数据库中，随后进行分析并用于评估。
共记录了 1384 个来电，平均每天下午有 7.6 个来电。来电的平均时长为 8.5 分钟。大多数来电者是女性患者（63%），患有年龄相关性黄斑变性。只有 17%的来电者是亲属。大多数来电者（59%）年龄超过 60 岁。大多数问题与干性或新生血管性年龄相关性黄斑变性以及各种形式的色素性视网膜炎的治疗选择有关（45%）。
鉴于记录的信息和支持需求，此类服务（如视网膜热线）似乎是必要且合理的。然而，基于适当的计算机程序和标准答案目录或流程图，它可能不需要由眼科医生来负责，而是可以由经过培训的非医疗人员来提供服务。
