Patient knowledge concerning age-related macular degeneration: an AMD questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease with rising prevalence. This study evaluates patients' knowledge and the need for more patient information. METHODS: 271 patients with AMD were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their knowledge about AMD. 150 patients were interviewed by a physician and 121 patients completed the questionnaire on their own. RESULTS: 79.4 % of patients had previous knowledge about AMD. Most patients, 97.3 %, got their information from physicians. 58 % of patients find their knowledge concerning AMD adequate. Only 23.9 % knew about aid organizations for patients with visual impairments. DISCUSSION: Though the majority of patients had good knowledge concerning AMD, there was a large percentage of patients who seemed to lack information. Physicians should actively ask their patients if they have any questions related to their disease. Medial focus on AMD and information about aid organizations could help patients to cope with their disease. CONCLUSION: A large number of patients seemed to need additional information. We suggest that ophthalmologists provide general information concerning AMD to their patients every 3 to 5 years. Information about aid organizations specializing in visual impairment could also be provided. Well-informed patients would be better able to follow their physician's instructions and would have a better understanding of their disease, particularly for the sake of therapy.

Clinical risk management - a 3-year experience of team timeout in 18 081 ophthalmic patients.

PURPOSE: Clinical risk management aims to identify, analyse and avoid errors and risks systematically to improve patient's safety. Preoperative checklists to prevent mistakes have gained importance in the last few years. A so-called team timeout checklist was introduced in October 2011 at the Department of Ophthalmology, Hietzing Hospital, Vienna. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the benefits and demonstrate the value of team timeout. METHODS: After the team timeout had been in use for 6 months, all near misses that occurred over a period of 34 months were assigned to the following groups: wrong side, wrong lens, wrong patient and miscellaneous. RESULTS: Eighteen thousand and eighty-one surgeries were performed in the specified period; 53 cases of 'wrong side' and 52 cases of 'wrong intraocular lens' were noted. Ninety-six near misses concerned the patients' data and 38 concerned documentation. A reduction of near misses was noted after an adaptation phase of 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: Team timeout proved valuable, as it improved the patients' safety with minimum effort. Errors may occur despite several preoperative controls and can be detected by performing team timeout.