Cruising the internet, surfing the Web, accessing
gophers, creating homepages, and emailing
your friends and colleagues; if this isn't "90s" talk,
what is? The vast, world-wide network we call the internet…..has
arrived. My comments this month will not include a course in Web
browsing, but I thought you might want to hear how eyecare is
involved on the "net".
First, I am NOT an internet "guru", but have worked
with computers for 11 years and have been "online" for
about 6 years. Nerd, maybe…guru, no. Maybe the most intriguing
aspect of eyecare on the net for the optometrist is the ability
to communicate with colleagues all over the world. And I'm not
talking about comparing golf scores, but rather comparing diagnosis
and treatment plans for our patients. On the particular "listserve"
that I frequent, there are more than 700 ODs from all over the
globe. I know of several from Australia, Canada, Japan, Puerto
Rico, Israel, and England. The majority are in the states, including
many prominent, academic types that are more than willing to offer
advice to the "list" in difficult management cases.
I have received some great tips on more than one occasion, and
have offered a couple as well.
Another very useful aspect of this communication is to be able
to refer patients that are moving out of Texas (or just the Kingwood
area), to a well respected colleague who maybe specializes in
that patient's particular problem. I was able, just recently,
to refer a patient that lives in Chicago to an eye practitioner
in her neighborhood, whom I highly respect and know, solely through
the internet.
Another technology that is rapidly gaining attention is one that
involves "uploading" and "downloading" of
clinical images. Imagine the ability to send, electronically,
a photo of a peculiar retinal lesion to a retinal specialist for
his immediate opinion. He would download the image onto his computer
through the internet, then observe the lesion on his monitor.
He could then email a message back to the referring doctor with
a tentative diagnosis and course of action.
Co-managing doctors of optometry who are active in pre and post-operative
care of the laser surgery patient, have another tool that helps
in "mapping" out corneal contours after surgery. The
corneal topographer can take a picture of the corneal shape, colorize
it, map it, and automatically send it via the internet to the
surgeon. Depending on the image received, the surgeon may opt
for an enhancement procedure or simply choose to follow the case
with subsequent image maps.
Personally, I took advantage of the new "CE Online"
just last month. Continuing Education Online is a relatively new
way to satisfy part of the Texas Board of Optometry's CE requirement
for re-licensure. Optometrists in Texas are required to obtain
16 hours of education every year, 4 of which may be completed
by correspondence. Since I enjoy corresponding via the net, I
actually took the course on the internet, took the examination
on the net, and was graded online as well! (Yes, I passed)
As you can see, communication (especially through the internet)
is playing a much bigger role in the optometrist's office as well
as the offices of other health care providers. In the interest
of improving my own communication, I have recently created and
opened up a personal homepage on the World Wide Web. If you are
familiar with this part of the net, please visit my site at: http://home.earthlink.net/~odiehog/.
You will find a few personal notes as well as most of my monthly
articles. You may print out any article you wish. You will also
find a few homemade stereograms to view (they are quite striking
on your monitor), as well as some links to other eye pages. For
local flavor, look for the link to Houston's "real-time"
traffic map as well as the two local Kingwood/Humble directories.
And……..don't forget to write!