Yousaf Jamal Mahsood, Irfan Ullah, Muhammad Usman Arshad, Muhammad Zia-ud din Khalil, Hamida Muneer, Farah Akhtar.
Deciding factors for patients to seek glaucoma specialist care.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;12(2):67-72.

Aims: To determine what are the factors which influence glaucoma patients to prefer specialized glaucoma clinic. Study Design: Observational cross-sectional study. Methods: A total of 400 patients were included in this study for a period of three months from 1st January 2016 to 31st March 2016. To avoid bias, patients were interviewed by a person who was not directly involved in their management. A short interview about the reasons why patients prefer glaucoma clinic was conducted and they were allowed to make a choice from the given options. A second choice was given only if the patient can’t decide between two options. At the end they were asked about their satisfaction level from the quality of care they received. Results: Of total 400 patients, 258 (64.5%) were males and 142 (35.5%) were females. When analyzed for the reasons of preferring the clinic, 145 (36.3%) opted for the option of free medicine availability followed by referral by other ophthalmologists in 125 (31.3%) cases. Among the remaining, 85 (21.3%) were self-referred, 34 (8.5%) preferred because of the competent glaucoma specialist and 05 (1.3%) cases opted better hospital staff. The satisfaction level of the patients was recorded as 330 (82.5%) were satisfied with the care they were receiving while 36 (09%) were not satisfied and 34 (8.5%) had no comments. Conclusion: Economic status and proper in-time referral by other ophthalmologist are the main deciding factors in glaucoma management.

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