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Abstract #55089 Published in IGR 15-4
Patient-related and system-related barriers to glaucoma follow-up in a county hospital population
Lee BW; Murakami Y; Duncan MT; Kao AA; Huang JY; Lin S; Singh KInvestigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 2013; 54: 6542-6548
PURPOSE: To identify the barriers to glaucoma follow-up and to assess how ethnicity influences the effect of such barriers among patients in a county hospital population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 152 patients, 76 with poor clinic follow-up and 76 with good clinic follow-up, who were recruited at the San Francisco General Hospital glaucoma clinic as part of a case-control study. All subjects were required to be established patients with glaucoma initially seen and diagnosed in the clinic at least 1 year before enrollment. An oral questionnaire pertaining to the barriers to follow-up for glaucoma, as well as patient ethnicity, was administered to all participating subjects. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of significant barriers to follow-up, both overall and stratified by ethnicity. RESULTS: The most prevalent barriers to follow-up included long clinic waiting times (75%), appointment scheduling difficulties (38%), the effect of other medical or physical comorbidities (29%), and difficulties related to medical interpretation (23%). While several barriers were cited as being important across different ethnicities, Latinos and Asian-Pacific Islanders were particularly affected by difficulties related to medical interpretation (P = 0.0001) and long waiting times in the clinic (P = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Understanding patient-reported barriers to glaucoma follow-up and their variation based on ethnicity may give providers insight as to why patients do not adhere to follow-up recommendations. Strategies to improve follow-up may include reduced clinic wait times, simplified appointment scheduling, and provision of appropriate education and counseling regardless of the patient's native language and ethnicity.
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Classification:
11.17 Cooperation with medical therapy e.g. persistency, compliance, adherence (Part of: 11 Medical treatment)
1.6 Prevention and screening (Part of: 1 General aspects)
