Orthoptists reduce false-positive hospital referrals.
This paper describes changes in the pattern of new referrals of children from birth to 2 years-of-age to the Hospital Eye Service in Oxford, following the implementation of a community-based orthoptic secondary vision-screening programme. The findings show that the number of false positive referrals was reduced by a half following the introduction of the service; false-positive referrals were also discharged sooner. This paper reports the findings of this survey and the results demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of the programme compared to outpatient attendance.
Eye Hospital, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.
M
M
Stayte
C
C
Wortham
B
B
Reeves
D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009988:Orthoptics / Q000592:standards*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013285:Strabismus / Q000517:prevention & control; D014600:Utilization Review; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*