Department of Ophthalmology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National Healthcare Group, Singapore, Singapore.
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, National Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2024 Aug;31(4):315-320. doi: 10.1080/09286586.2023.2261528. Epub 2023 Oct 10.
Community Eye Clinics (CEC) increase accessibility of specialist ophthalmic services in the community, reducing demand for tertiary eye services. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of CEC on first-visit referrals from Hougang Polyclinic (HOU) to Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ophthalmology Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC).
A retrospective analysis was performed on first-visit referrals from Hougang Polyclinic (HOU) to Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ophthalmology Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC) over a similar 3-months period before and after the introduction of CEC in August 2018 (1 January to 31 March in 2018 and 2019, respectively). Data pertaining to patients' presenting complaints, referral reasons, final diagnoses, follow-up plans, and need for ophthalmic intervention were obtained.
We included 978 patients in our study. There was a 27.5% reduction in the number of first-visit referrals seen at SOC after the establishment of CEC. Patients were more likely to be referred on to sub-specialty eye clinics (10.8% vs. 12.9%, = = .304) and receive more ophthalmic interventions (15% vs. 16.3%, = .066) than prior to CEC.
The CEC provides greater accessibility to eye care within the community. Optometrists are upskilled to manage patients with stable eye conditions, whilst eye specialists can provide timely care to the SOC for patients with more severe eye conditions.
社区眼科诊所（CEC）增加了社区专科眼科服务的可及性，减少了对三级眼科服务的需求。本文旨在评估 CEC 对从后港综合诊疗所（HOU）转介到陈笃生医院眼科专科门诊（SOC）的初诊患者的影响。
对 2018 年 8 月 CEC 引入前后类似的 3 个月期间（2018 年 1 月 1 日至 3 月 31 日和 2019 年），从后港综合诊疗所（HOU）转介到陈笃生医院眼科专科门诊（SOC）的初诊患者进行回顾性分析。获取了患者的就诊主诉、转介原因、最终诊断、随访计划和眼科干预需求等数据。
本研究共纳入 978 例患者。在 CEC 建立后，SOC 的初诊患者数量减少了 27.5%。与 CEC 建立前相比，患者更有可能被转介到亚专科眼科诊所（10.8%比 12.9%，= = .304），并接受更多的眼科干预（15%比 16.3%，= .066）。
CEC 使社区内的眼科护理更加便捷。视光师的技能得到提升，能够管理稳定的眼部状况的患者，而眼科专家可以为 SOC 提供更严重眼部状况的患者提供及时的护理。
