Interprofessional collaboration needed to improve triage of eye conditions in the emergency department

Emergency department practitioners are not often able to gather ocular vital signs in patients presenting with ocular conditions leading to a need for the creation of algorithms to help with the triage and management of eye conditions, according to a study.

In a retrospective study, the charts of patients who visited the emergency department and had an ophthalmology consult, were included. Uveitis, corneal abrasion, corneal ulcer, meibomian gland dysfunction/dry eyes/blepharitis/punctate epithelial erosions, and conjunctivitis/epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, were the most common anterior segment diagnoses.

Emergency department personnel and ophthalmologists measured visual acuity in 40.8% and 78.4% of patients, respectively, and intraocular pressure (IOP) in 40.8% and 95.1% of patients, respectively.

Visual acuity agreement between ophthalmology and the emergency department was 11.8%, whereas the IOP agreement was 0.86%.

The percentage agreement in diagnosis between ophthalmology and the emergency department was 49.4%.

Reference

Tang VD, Safi M, Mahavongtrakul A, et al. Ocular Anterior Segment Pathology in the Emergency Department: A 5-Year Study [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 15]. Eye Contact Lens. 2020;10.1097/ICL.0000000000000720. doi:10.1097/ICL.0000000000000720