Implementation Of A Virtual Clinic For Assessing Patient Suitability And Motivation For Refractive Corrective Surgery.

To report on the implementation of a virtual clinic for assessing patient suitability and  motivation for refractive corrective surgery at a private specialist eye hospital group.

Optegra Eye Hospitals, UK

A group of specialist optometrists was trained to deliver virtual video or telephone consultations to patients seeking private cataract or refractive surgery to a standardised protocol.  The process was refined and to date over 20,000 consultations have been delivered.  The paper will discuss the steps in the implementation process and the results of an audit assessing trends in patient motivation and key outcomes of the virtual clinic consultations.

Following the introduction of the virtual clinic, it  has fully embedded and 100% of all refractive surgery patients now receive a virtual consultation, the majority electing to have a video rather than telephone consult.  On average 55% of virtual patients proceed to a face to face consultation, and of these, around 70% of patients elect to have treatment.  Motivating factors include a general desire to be spectacle independent and reasons for not progressing are unsuitability, a desire to further consider options, availability to attend a clinic, seeking more clinical information re suitability and price.

Our experience shows that a virtual consultation pathway implemented in a high volume setting is a convenient and efficient way of screening and advising patients interested in surgical solutions for the management of cataract and refractive error.