In-home ophthalmology
New teleconsultation service supplements our in-person ophthalmic care
Miranza has recently launched an in-home ophthalmological service that will allow you to connect remotely with your ophthalmologist for diagnostic advice or second opinions. The specialist will assist you by videoconference, without the need for scheduling an in-person appointment, to provide you with diagnostic guidance or to monitor your post-operative evolution or specific eye problems. The service will also be useful for the monitoring and adjustment of medical treatments for chronic diseases.
We shall explain here how to request this service. Our goal is to facilitate access to eye care for the elderly; for people with reduced mobility, scheduling difficulties or eye treatments or impairments that require monitoring; and for those seeking a second opinion or a qualified interpretation of tests and diagnoses. “The current conditions imposed by the pandemic have heightened the relevance of this project and have accelerated its launching, which we had scheduled for a later date”, explains Dr Borja Corcóstegui, chairman of CLF (Clinical Leaders Forum), Miranza’s joint medical management body. “During confinement, our centres only assisted emergencies, and most patients did not leave their homes unless it was absolutely necessary. We received many calls for consultations and requests for some type of remote monitoring. We are now prepared to provide such assistance in optimal conditions and with the same excellence that characterises our in-person care of patients”, he adds.
This new, in-home ophthalmological service includes an unprecedented pilot plan, currently available in Madrid and its outlying areas, for in-home assistance and exhaustive eye examinations before connecting with the ophthalmologist. “In the event that tests or reports are not recent or available to the patient, we can perform at the patient’s home the same examination that we would perform at our centres. This includes testing for visual acuity, examination of the fundus of the eye with a slit lamp and retinal imaging”, explains David Medel, optometrist at IOA Miranza, the group’s first clinic to offer this in-home service. The tests are performed with mobile equipment, such as small devices for eye examinations and an application that allows us to see the fundus of a patient’s eye through a smartphone screen, “the reliability of which is comparable to the devices at our clinic”, says Miranza IOA ophthalmologist Dr Aitor Fernández. Using encrypted means, the completed tests and retinal images are added instantly to the patient’s medical records, which the specialist may access after several minutes. This allows more detailed diagnostic guidance in the teleconsultation, which takes place on the same day or the following days.
Dr Fernández adds, “Those who stand to benefit the most from this service are chronic patients with diseases such as glaucoma that require constant monitoring, which we can now provide without the patient having to go to the clinic”. “It lets us know, for example, whether or not our eye pressure is under control, allowing greater frequency and in a much more advantageous way for the patient than having to go to the clinic, which people sometimes put off for convenience or due to different problems”, he adds. In addition, in the current context of societal and healthcare concerns, the service is being requested by many more kinds of patients, of all ages, with and without chronic disease, “or families who find the service to be much more convenient than having to spend an afternoon at the ophthalmologist’s office to have several family members examined, especially when there are young children”.
Luis, the first user of the premium “We come to your home” service, learned firsthand of the advantages of having a mobile unit go to his home for the same eye examination and tests that would have been performed at a clinic. Due to his advanced age and passion for golf, which requires sharp up-close and distance vision, Luis never misses his annual check-up at the Miranza IOA clinic. However, this year’s appointment in April was postponed due to confinement measures. Luis recently decided to continue with his check-ups but his family members were too busy to accompany him, and he prefers not to go alone, in the event that his pupils are dilated during the examination and he has to return home with blurry vision. “My children were too busy to accompany me to an appointment, and a family member told me it was possible to have a remote examination and a supplementary examination at home”, Luis explains. “I decided to try it, and I’m very satisfied because it was very convenient and thorough, and I didn’t have to leave my home. An in-person appointment was not only inconvenient; it’s something I still prefer to avoid as much as possible, due to the pandemic”.
