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Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ehrlich, JR; Wentzloff, JN; Imami, NR; Blachley, TS; Stein, JD; Lee, PP; Weizer, JS
Published in: Am J Ophthalmol
July 2017

PURPOSE: Improving adherence to practice guidelines can improve patient safety and quality of care. We sought to establish a regional glaucoma physician collaborative to evaluate and improve adherence to the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Primary Open-angle Glaucoma (POAG) Preferred Practice Pattern (PPP) guidelines. DESIGN: Prospective interventional study. METHODS: The collaborative consisted of 13 glaucoma specialists from 3 practices in Michigan. All consecutive POAG new patient visits were reviewed from each study site to determine physician adherence to the 13 major examination elements of the PPP. In phase 1 of the study, physician adherence rates for each of the recommended examination elements were combined and averaged for all groups. Averages for the collaborative were reported to each site, and each physician received his or her individual adherence rates. Physicians discussed strategies to improve overall adherence to the PPP. Adherence rates were collected in phase 2 to determine if feedback and sharing of strategies resulted in improved adherence. RESULTS: A total of 274 new POAG patient visits from phase 1 and 280 visits from phase 2 were reviewed. After accounting for multiple comparisons, overall improvement approached statistical significance for the evaluation of visual function (91.2% to 96.1%, P < .02) and target intraocular pressure determination (73.7% to 83.2%, P < .01). Improvement for other measures that had a high rate of adherence at baseline (eg, ocular history, pupil examination, and central corneal thickness measurement) was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to establish a regional glaucoma physician collaborative to improve standardization of care for patients with newly diagnosed POAG.

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Published In

Am J Ophthalmol

DOI

EISSN

1879-1891

Publication Date

July 2017

Volume

179

Start / End Page

145 / 150

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Quality Improvement
  • Prospective Studies
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians'
  • Ophthalmology & Optometry
  • Ophthalmology
  • Michigan
  • Intraocular Pressure
  • Humans
  • Guideline Adherence
  • Glaucoma, Open-Angle
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Ehrlich, J. R., Wentzloff, J. N., Imami, N. R., Blachley, T. S., Stein, J. D., Lee, P. P., & Weizer, J. S. (2017). Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care. Am J Ophthalmol, 179, 145–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2017.04.022
Ehrlich, Joshua R., Jeffrey N. Wentzloff, Nauman R. Imami, Taylor S. Blachley, Joshua D. Stein, Paul P. Lee, and Jennifer S. Weizer. “Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care.Am J Ophthalmol 179 (July 2017): 145–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2017.04.022.
Ehrlich JR, Wentzloff JN, Imami NR, Blachley TS, Stein JD, Lee PP, et al. Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care. Am J Ophthalmol. 2017 Jul;179:145–50.
Ehrlich, Joshua R., et al. “Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care.Am J Ophthalmol, vol. 179, July 2017, pp. 145–50. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2017.04.022.
Ehrlich JR, Wentzloff JN, Imami NR, Blachley TS, Stein JD, Lee PP, Weizer JS. Establishing a Regional Glaucoma Physician Collaborative to Improve Quality of Care. Am J Ophthalmol. 2017 Jul;179:145–150.
Journal cover image

Published In

Am J Ophthalmol

DOI

EISSN

1879-1891

Publication Date

July 2017

Volume

179

Start / End Page

145 / 150

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Quality Improvement
  • Prospective Studies
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians'
  • Ophthalmology & Optometry
  • Ophthalmology
  • Michigan
  • Intraocular Pressure
  • Humans
  • Guideline Adherence
  • Glaucoma, Open-Angle