1) Get to know the patient list
- CMs should have the patient list finalized by Wednesday of the week of clinic
- Know the purpose and goals of the visit
- Note: this can be difficult to figure out if the patient was referred to EHHOphtho a long time ago! Try to find the Medical Clinic TS Sign-out from the clinic date that the original referral was made.
- If the patient coming in was urgently referred from the last Medical clinic, be sure to get any outstanding signout from the TS!
- If the patient is coming in for a Quick Visit, make sure you know why!
- most often these will be for refraction, NewEyes Voucher/application issues, or f/u for an acute issue that was addressed at recent EHHOphtho clinic (ie conjunctivitis)
2) Triage the patient list (with co-Ophtho TS): often clinic is overbooked or underbooked.
- Please also note that the number of patients scheduled for a given week will depend on the # of Seniors for that day. The # of Seniors is often not finalized until late in the week, so please work closely with the EHHOphtho CMs (they will be recruiting Seniors/Juniors as well as patients, and know to schedule 2-3 patients per senior)
- Check the Charity Care/REAP status of each patient coming into clinic: this is extremely important to ensure timely scheduling of all Ophthalmology Resident Clinic Referrals (ie Glaucoma clinic, Retina Clinic)
- if their information is out of date, make sure that they are either (1) pre-screened during the week prior to their appointment (email Chief TS and ACT) or (2) screened by ACT member 15 minutes prior to their appointment
- You may ask the CMs to pull more patients from the waiting list to fill an underbooked clinic
3) Prepare your Sign-In for Clinic Teams and Ophtho attending:
- This is to keep patient encounters focused and efficient, and to make sure that the attending has a working patient list on the day of clinic!
- do NOT make these lengthy! Pull information from previous TS sign-outs to understand the “chief complaint” that needs to be addressed and any relevant ocular or medical history!
- Sign-in for each patient should include:
- Patient Name and MRN
- “Pt is a __year old female/male” style one-liner that ends in chief complaint/main reason for visit
- ANY significant ocular history
- relevant medical history (ie — last HbA1c if diabetic, average BP if hypertensive, rheumatologic disease
) - relevant medications (ie — diabetic drugs, anti-hypertensives, DMARDs)
- Include any past labs/studies/imaging not to be missed by team
- Plan for this visit:
- be focused and concise!
- does this patient need a full dilated exam?
- diabetic/hypertensive retinopathy screen?
- refraction only?
4) Email CMs with any information that should be relayed to patients by Wednesday or Thursday of week of clinic (ie bring their glasses, bring any eye drops or related medications that they are taking)
5) Prepare a 20-30 minute didactic topic!!!