The most common visual disease that occurs mostly in older people of age 60 years and above is Dry Eye Disease (DED). It is slowly and steadily increasing in our society and almost 30% of older people suffer from this disease. The symptoms of this disease include redness in the eyes, irritation, blurred vision, and discharge from the eyes. The symptoms might be mild for some people and strenuous for other people.
So for eye-practitioners, it will be the best option to start a dry eye clinic where they will be able to serve older people suffering from this disease. But before starting the clinic, the practitioners must follow a few steps to offer the best treatments and satisfaction to patients suffering from dried eye syndrome.
This Article Discusses those Steps in the Following Sections:
Step 1: Dry Eye Disease Knowledge
Before starting the dry eye clinic, the practitioner needs to make sure that they are well-informed about the disease and its treatment. Knowledge about this disease must not limit to doctor only, even nurses and other staff members should also be aware of the disease. They must know all basic things related to this disease such as what are the symptoms of dry eyes, how to identify it, what treatment must be given, and a lot more.
As soon as a patient visits the clinic, staff members should ask certain questions from the patient to know about their medical history. Then they are asked to fill a questionnaire that will help to identify any relevant symptoms of the disease. Patient’s answers will show whether they have evidence of DED or not. Then diagnostic testing will start.
The most commonly used questionnaire is SPEED and every patient who visits Dry Eye Clinic has to fill this questionnaire. Only then the procedure is taken further ahead. This questionnaire is included in the patient’s file and it entails all details about the patient and the doctor who will be carrying out the treatment process.
Step 2: Take Up the Course for Practicing
The foremost step in starting a dry eye clinic is to take up the practice implementation course. This will help the practitioners to get an idea about how to plan for a clinic, what facilities are required, compensation, and preparation to start the clinic. Write for us health
Step 3: Usage of Diagnostic Tools
The next important thing to consider while planning to start a dry eye clinic is the range of diagnostic tools that a clinic must possess. To make accurate diagnostics and easy testing, the clinic must have all advanced diagnostic tools.
The most commonly used eye diagnostic tools are tear breakup time, Schirmer testing, and slit-lamp examination, to name a few. Although these are some of the traditional ways of eye diagnostic tools, some more advanced tools are mandatory that focus entirely on DED diagnosis.
TearLab Osmolarity System is the commonly used diagnostic tool for detecting dry eye problems. If the reading is above 300 mOsm/L it shows that the patient is having DED. Not only this, but the clinic must possess other advanced diagnostic tools also to detect various other types of issues related to the eyes.
Step 4: Meet the Needs of the Patient
If you are planning to open a DED clinic with a vision in mind, then make sure you meet the expectations of your patients. Fulfilling their needs and giving them the best treatment will take you ahead in this journey and you will gain success and credibility with your high-end services. You must also train your staff for giving the best services to patients. They must be held under training for some period to gain thorough knowledge about the whole process of diagnosis and treatment so that they can handle all the queries and patients smoothly.
Conclusion
This was a basic guide for all those who are planning to set up a dry eye clinic now or in near future. remember these steps as guidelines for you to start and maintain the clinic. By putting in the right efforts soon your clinic will gain credibility and a good reputation among the public.
