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Eye Care 2018 & Public Health Congress 2018 Archives of General Internal Medicine | ISSN: 2591-7951 | Volume 2
S e p t e m b e r 0 3 - 0 4 , 2 0 1 8 | L i s b o n , P o r t u g a l
alliedacademies Joint Event on
PUBLIC HEALTH, EPIDEMIOLOGY AND NUTRITION
OCULAR PHARMACOLOGY AND EYE CARE
&
World Congress on
19th International Conference on
Lavanya G Rao, Arch Gen Intern Med 2018, Volume 2 | DOI: 10.4066/2591-7951-C4-011
NOVEL METHOD OF UTILIZATION OF
TRAINED MEDICAL STUDENTS FOR
HOUSE TO HOUSE SCREENING FOR
OBTAINING POPULATION BASED DATA ON
OPHTHALMIC DISEASES
Lavanya G Rao
Dr A V Baliga Memorial Hospital, India
Statement of the problem: Novel method of utilization of medical students
for house to house screening to obtain population based data on ophthalmic
diseases in India. There is paucity of population based data, due to shortage
of trained manpower for screening. The purpose of this study is to describe
utilization of medical students to conduct house to house screening in rural
India around a medical college who can be the source of trained manpower
for data collection for ocular and systemic diseases.
Methodology and Theoretical Orientation: Trained III year MBBS students
were provided a questionnaire and deployed for house to house screening
in villages spanning a 20 km radius around a tertiary care center on every
Sunday for a year assisted by staff in rural maternity and child welfare centers.
In Children 3 years, E chart were used. Population was screened for anterior
and posterior segment diseases. Non mydriatic fundus camera was used.
Findings: Of the 25,375 screened, 51% were females. Children (0-6 years)
comprised 9 %and 2% were>80 years. Commonest among the young were
infections of lids & conjunctiva and refractive errors, among 40-60 years
presbyopia, glaucoma, cataract and in >60 years cataract. 17% with severe
visual impairment had not accessed eye care services. 10 % had refractive
errors / anterior segment diseases. 3.5% had posterior segment diseases.
30% of diabetics had not consulted an ophthalmologist. 20 % with visual
impairment were not interested in availing ophthalmic care.
Conclusion and significance: House to house screening can provide data on
prevalence of diseases in the population. Utilization of medical students a
novel method can make up for lack of trained manpower. Recommendations:
If all medical colleges in the country were to conduct screening programs
with uniform protocol, authentic data at national level can be obtained which
can provide an insight into the problems associated with implementation of
national program for control of blindness in rural India and implementable
measures can be planned.
Lavanya G Rao is a comprehensive ophthalmologist
with special interest in anterior segment diseases,
medical retina, community and pediatric ophthalmol-
ogy. She has served in academic institutions for more
than 20 years and has contributed immensely to un-
dergraduate and postgraduate ophthalmic teaching in
medical college. Presently after retirement fromMani-
pal university is a consultant at Dr AV Baliga memorial
Hospital Udupi, India
BIOGRAPHY