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Community Health Centers: A Model for Integrating Eye Care Services with the Practice of Primary Care Medicine
- Source :
- Optometry and Vision Science. 96:905-909
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), 2019.
-
Abstract
- SIGNIFICANCE Optometry is desperately needed to combat the increasing rate of avoidable visual impairment that goes undiagnosed largely owing to the lack of integration of eye care services with primary care medicine. Government leaders are actively discussing substantive changes to health care legislation that will impact optometrists and their patients. The importance of a regular eye examination for disease prevention has long been undervalued in the setting of primary care. Consequently, many serious and potentially treatable ocular and systemic diseases go undiagnosed. Despite clear indicators that vision impairment increases the risk of morbidity and mortality from chronic systemic disease and decreases quality of life, vision health remains among the greatest unmet health care needs in the United States. To improve vision care services for all Americans, we must focus our attention on two central themes. First, we must educate the public, health care professionals, and policymakers on the importance of routine eye care as a preventive measure in the setting of primary care. Next, we need to recognize that optometrists, through their geographic distribution and advanced training, are in a strategic position to deliver integrated, comprehensive, cost-effective eye care services for individuals most in need. In this perspective, we discuss a model for integrating optometric services with the practice of primary care medicine to facilitate early detection of both eye and systemic disease while reducing serious and preventable health-related consequences.
- Subjects :
- Eye Diseases
genetic structures
Health Personnel
Visual impairment
MEDLINE
Legislation
Vision Screening
Quality of life (healthcare)
Nursing
Health care
Humans
Medicine
Government
Primary Health Care
medicine.diagnostic_test
Delivery of Health Care, Integrated
business.industry
Community Health Centers
United States
eye diseases
Ophthalmology
Eye examination
Community health
Quality of Life
medicine.symptom
business
Delivery of Health Care
Optometry
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15389235 and 10405488
- Volume :
- 96
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Optometry and Vision Science
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....cfae3398428d5d1739baeafd057d9fd0
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1097/opx.0000000000001458