Telehealth in Ophthalmology - monitoring vision at home
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Telehealth in ophthalmology - evaluation of a new method to track changes in vision at home for children undergoing amblyopia treatment
IRAS ID
283307
Contact name
Anna O'Connor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Kay pictures ltd
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Amblyopia affects 2-3% of children, causing reduced vision in one or both eyes. Treatment is undertaken at home using eye patching or drops for several months, with regular eye clinic appointments to monitor response and ensure the treatment is correct for the individual child.
During the Covid19 pandemic hospital appointments are being postponed for months, and this delay could result in permanent visual loss if treatment is discontinued or if continued without regular vision checks.Currently no acceptable way to monitor children’s vision at home exists, so we urgently need a way to provide vision information remotely so informed (triage) decisions can be made.
This study aims to evaluate an alternative method of measuring vision, using a guided app for home use by parents. It will measure changes in vision over time, providing parents with useful information about their child’s amblyopia to share with their eye professional.
Instead of measuring vision using professional eye charts, which are not suitable (or recommended) for home-use, the tracker app will provide an easier method for home-use based on the distance an image is seen.
There will be 3 phases:
1. Assess adults (NHS staff) to compare findings from the prototype tracker app to an existing app, that displays the conventional eye chart with reducing image size at a fixed distance.
2. Parents of patients undergoing amblyopia treatment will be given the app to test their child at home and asked about its usability via an online questionnaire.
3. When clinics reopen, parents will be asked to undertake a test prior to the clinic appointment, and the test repeated in clinic by the orthoptist.
During phase 1, patient identification, phone calls for clinical care and to recruit for phase 2 will be taking place, which could take two weeks, with testing starting after that.REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
20/WA/0188
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion