Eyeworld

C M Y CM MY CY CMY K EW FEATURE 46 amounts of change in the process, Dr. Radcliffe said. The programs not only enhance the ability to detect glaucoma, but their low cost means this type of analysis could be applied in third- world countries, Dr. Radcliffe said. From an industry perspective, Mr. Forchette said, "Physicians' ex- pectations of systems have become higher. One of the things that we think about is physicians don't live in an ophthalmic vacuum, they in- teract with software that is good and software that is bad in every aspect of their lives, such as their automo- biles, stereos, and home air-condi- tioning systems. Everything now has a software element so they recognize things that work well for them and things they like, and all of that gets transferred to their expectation of surgical systems." He continued, "We need to not only be a great provider of simplicity in the way software works in oph- thalmology, but it needs to also stand up to the expectations that are driven by experiences elsewhere." Everything is digitized Perhaps one area where software has had a more disruptive effect in oph- thalmology is with EMR. "We have changed our entire way of record-keeping over the past 3 years and are still adapting to pa- tient flow issues and how the record- keeping influences how we take care of patients," said John A. Vukich, M.D., surgical director, Davis Duehr Dean Center for Refractive Surgery, Madison, Wis. Many who are using it can see the value of it in terms of not hav- ing lost charts and being able to call up data. Other specialties are able to do spreadsheet-like processing of lin- ear records of pressures over time or look at visual acuities in a snapshot that gives progression of loss or im- provement over time, he said. The issue with most databases and soft- ware is that they need to be man- aged in order to get valuable output, one has to put energy into providing the right informational data, and that's the part that has impacted his practice in a demonstrable way. Software has also changed the way physicians interact with each other and with patients. Personal- ized doctor apps on smartphones allow physicians to introduce them- selves and their practice to patients, provide patient education, provide up-to-date information about the practice, and offer convenient ap- pointment scheduling. Ophthalmol- ogy apps, online videos, and private listservs provide mountains of infor- mation that used to exist only in textbooks and real-life discussions between physicians. "You're never more than a few keystrokes away from current infor- mation, recommendations, or being able to refresh your memory on un- common conditions or things that you may not have encountered per- sonally for a period of time," Dr. Vukich said. What it means for ophthalmology "I think there are a lot of advantages to this. I think we're getting more consistency in outcomes, fewer complications, and better results," said Richard A. Lewis, M.D., Sacramento, Calif. "I think it will make us better doctors, we will have a clearer un- derstanding of how the patients are doing, and we are going to do better surgery because of the refinement that will be possible with this soft- ware," said Reay H. Brown, M.D., clinical professor, Emory University, Atlanta, and president, Atlanta Ophthalmology Associates. It will also improve the conver- gence of techniques so that in the past where surgeons might have said, "In my hands …" and go on to describe a way of doing things that they found to be successful in their surgeries, in the future, what is going to work well is going to be something that works for everyone; there will be best practices that everyone should be adopting and software that is going to incorporate these best practices, Dr. Brown said. Dr. Slade believes the software revolution is just getting started. "I think one area that we haven't even begun to look at is software simulations," he said. Instead of explaining to patients about the different IOLs available, Dr. Slade envisions patients will be able to take a virtual look at a partic- ular outcome. According to Dr. Radcliffe, "The software solutions in EMR will ulti- mately determine not just how quickly we can see patients but how complete of a picture we can have with every visit so that these graphi- cal user interfaces that are generated by electronic medical records and by the image presentation programs can facilitate the patient visit." He continued, "I expect this to be the most meaningful area of de- velopment, and it will allow doctors to communicate better with their patients by sharing imaging studies with patients during the encounter. It can also allow physicians to com- municate better with each other, and this is the area I think where we'll see the biggest growth and where software enhancements will pave the way to better care." EW Editors' note: Drs. Brown, Lane, Lewis, Slade, and Vukich have no financial interests related to their comments. Mr. Forchette is president and CEO of OptiMedica. Dr. Radcliffe has financial interests with Carl Zeiss Meditec. Contact information Brown: 404-252-1194, reaymary@comcast.net Forchette: mforchette@optimedica.com Lane: sslane@associatedeyecare.com Lewis: 916-649-1515, rlewiseyemd@yahoo.com Radcliffe: 646-962-2020, drradcliffe@gmail.com Slade: sgs@visiontexas.com Vukich: 608-282-2000, javukich@facstaff.wisc.edu February 2011 Innovation in ophthalmology November 2011 L A B S w w w.eaglelabs.com 10201-A TRADEMARK STREET R A N C H O C U C A M O N G A C A L I F O R N I A 9 1 7 3 0 9 0 9 . 4 8 1 . 0 0 1 1 8 0 0 . 7 8 2 . 6 5 3 4 9 0 9 . 4 8 1 . 4 4 8 1 F A X e m a i l : g o e a g l e @ e a g l e l a b s . c o m Ye s ! P l e a s e S e n d : C a t a l o g B r o c h u r e s f o r R e f r a c t i v e P r o d u c t s , C a n n u l a e , B l a d e s & K n i v e s S a m p l e s o f t h e F o l l o w i n g : N a m e D e p t . A d d r e s s C i t y S t a t e Z i p P h o n e # P l e a s e R e t u r n t o E a g l e , A t t e n t i o n : C u s t o m e r R e l a t i o n s EW © Eagle Laboratories 2011 #602-27 Silicone Tip LASIK Flap Irrigator/Squeegee 27 GA x 1" Angled, 7mm bend to tip #602-23 Silicone Tip LASIK Flap Irrigator/Squeegee 23 GA x 1" Angled, 7mm bend to tip #610-23 LASIK Flap Spatula/Irrigator 23 GA x 1" Angled, 9mm bend to tip #611-23 LASIK Flap Spatula/Irrigator 23 GA x 1" Angled, 4mm bend to tip #603-25 LASIK Irrigating Cannula 25 GA x 1" Angled 7mm bend to tip Cannulae For Flap Management and Irrigation. Angled silicone tip allows for safe lifting of the flap, silicone sleeve acts as a "squeegee" to remove excess fluid and smooth down the flap to realign gutter. Non evasive tip allows for safe lifting of the flap and curved angle to smooth the flap during alignment, open end for irrigation. 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