Enhanced Diagnostic And Eye Health Outcomes In Saudi Arabia Collaboration Between Nursing, Radiology Technicians, Consultant Ophthalmologists And Optical Specialists

Abstract

Background: Saudi Arabia is experiencing a significant public health burden from visual impairment and blindness, with notable prevalence estimates for chronic conditions such as Diabetes Retinopathy and glaucoma. The traditional ophthalmic service model, which is specialist dependent, is threatened by structural inefficiencies, providing Consultant Ophthalmologists inappropriately, and bottlenecks that occur from the need for a specialist referral to deliver routine Primary Eye Care (PEC). Improved Inter-professional Collaboration (IPC) will be used as a strategic imperative for moving care outside of a centralized model and ultimately achieve eye health outcomes.    Objective: The main objective of this review study is to review and synthesize current evidence on the shared roles of nursing staff, radiology technologists, consulting ophthalmologists, and optical specialists in enhancing diagnostic accuracy and improving eye health outcomes in Saudi Arabia.   Methodology: An extensive examination of the existing evidence and current service delivery strategies, particularly in KSA health organizations, has been conducted. This examination focused on determining the extent to which expanded scopes of practice are necessary for non-physician specialists to provide services and understanding how tele-ophthalmology technologies such as store-and-forward systems are being used in practice for screening.   

Conclusion: For better outcomes of diagnosis and eye health in KSA, effective IPC is needed. Employing Nurses and Technicians for data collection (tele-ophthalmology) and allowing Optometrists to be independently providing primary diagnoses will allow the system to significantly narrow the scope of routine cases therefore shortening the total number of referrals to tertiary care (essentially as low as 2% of cases depending on the model).