Aim
To make it quicker and easier for clinicians to receive a diagnosis of Retinopathy Of Prematurity for their patient.
Benefits
- makes it quicker and easier for clinicians to receive a diagnosis of Retinopathy Of Prematurity for their patient
- reimburses clinicians for their time
- strengthens data retention and retrieval practices and reduces risk of patient misidentification
Background
ROP is a treatable, sight-threatening disease of the eye that affects over 300 prematurely born babies in Queensland each year.
Paediatric wide field fundus imaging devices (commonly known as Retcams) are needed to diagnose ROP. These devices are located in Cairns, Rockhampton, Gold Coast, Mackay, Mater, Royal Brisbane and Women's, Mt Isa, Townsville University and Sunshine Coast University Hospitals. These devices are typically not placed on the network and if a second opinion from a paediatric ophthalmologist is required, images are often copied to USB drives and posted to the Queensland Children's Hospital for review.
Dr Shuan Dai's team at QCH have begun working with RBWH, Mt Isa, Rockhampton, Cairns and Townsville initially to place these devices on the network and allow large image files to be transferred in an ROP eConsult model, which commenced in May.
