School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, G4 0BA, UK.
Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8RZ, UK.
Public Health. 2021 Jul;196:107-113. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.04.029. Epub 2021 Jun 25.
This study aimed to provide evidence on the therapeutic prescribing activity by community optometrists in Scotland and to determine its impact on workload in general practice and ophthalmology clinics.
Scottish administrative healthcare data for a 53-month period (November 2013-April 2018) were used to analyse non-medical prescribing practice by optometrists.
Using interrupted time-series regression (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average), we assessed the impact of optometrist prescribing on ophthalmology outpatient attendances and general practice prescribing for eye disorders.
A total of 54,246 items were prescribed by 205 optometrists over the study period. Since the commencement of data recording, optometrist prescribing activity increased steadily from a baseline of zero to 1.2% of all ophthalmic items prescribed. Neither the monthly number of items prescribed nor the size of optometric workforce were associated with a reduction in ophthalmology outpatient appointments over time.
Optometrists increasingly contribute to community ophthalmic prescribing in Scotland, releasing capacity and lessening general practice, but not secondary care workload. There appears to be an underutilisation of optometrists related to the management of dry eye, which represents an opportunity to release further capacity.
本研究旨在提供苏格兰社区视光师治疗性处方活动的证据，并确定其对一般实践和眼科诊所工作量的影响。
使用苏格兰 53 个月（2013 年 11 月至 2018 年 4 月）的行政医疗保健数据，分析视光师的非医疗处方实践。
使用自回归综合移动平均（Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average）中断时间序列回归，评估视光师处方对眼科门诊就诊和眼科疾病的一般实践处方的影响。
在研究期间，共有 205 名视光师开具了 54246 项处方。自数据记录开始以来，视光师的处方活动稳步增加，从零增加到所有眼科处方的 1.2%。每月开具的处方数量和视光师的劳动力规模都与眼科门诊预约的减少无关。
视光师在苏格兰社区眼科处方中越来越多地发挥作用，释放了容量，减少了一般实践，但没有减少二级保健的工作量。与干眼症管理相关的视光师的利用似乎不足，这代表了进一步释放容量的机会。
