Referrals from an Optometric Practice to the Hospital Eye Services in Singapore – A Two-Year Pre- & During- Covid Retrospective Study

Abstract

Purpose: This two-year retrospective study investigated the referral rate and eye conditions referred from an optometric practice in Singapore pre- and during-Covid. Materials & Methods: Data collection (audit period) was done from Mar to May 2021. In total, 10582 patient records seen during the period of 14 Feb 2019 to 6 Feb 2021 were extracted. Five thousand three hundred and seventyeight records were done in Year 1 (pre-Covid: 14 Feb 2019 to 31 Jan 2020) and 5204 records were done in Year 2 (during-Covid: 1 Feb 2020 to 6 Feb 2021). Data was then tabulated on patient’s demography (age, gender, ethnicity), audit period, whether the patient was referred, Referral Reply Received (RRR) and the eye conditions being referred, that was categorized to anterior eye anomalies, posterior eye anomalies, glaucoma related eye anomalies and others eye anomalies. Results: Total eye examination done pre-Covid was 5378 and 709 of them were referred (13.2%) with RRR at 42 (5.9%). Total eye examination done during-Covid was slightly lesser at 5204 and 645 of them were referred (12.4%) with RRR at 28 (4.3%). Majority of patients referred are Chinese and aged more than 60 years. 73% of the patients referred pre-Covid and 63% of the patients referred during-Covid were asymptomatic. The most commonly referred eye conditions were glaucoma, cataract/PCO, retinal and macular anomalies. Discussion: High referral rate shown in this study does not represent the referral rate in the country as the data was collected in a single optometric practice. This study has demonstrated the role of optometrists in primary eye care through early detection of various eye conditions and save sight.