Expanding the traditional role of optometry: Current practice patterns and attitudes to enhanced glaucoma services in Ireland
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Bibliographic record
Abstract
To investigate current diagnostic equipment availability and usage for glaucoma case-finding within community optometric practice, and to explore optometrists’ attitudes towards an enhanced scope of clinical practice. An anonymous survey was developed, validated, and distributed to all optometrists in Ireland. 199 optometrists (27% of registrants) responded to the survey. 87% had access to the traditional triad of tests necessary to conduct adequate glaucoma case finding. Standard automated perimetry was the most commonly absent (13%) of the three essential screening tests. 64% of respondents indicated that monocular direct ophthalmoscopy was their first choice technique for fundus examination. 47% of respondents had access to contact applanation tonometry, though just 14% used it as first choice during routine eye examinations. Among the 73 participants with access to both contact and non-contact tonometry (NCT), 80.8%, used NCT preferentially. The significant majority (98%) indicated an interest in enhanced glaucoma services with 57% agreeing that postgraduate training was an essential prerequisite to any increase in scope of practice. Irish optometrists are well equipped with the traditional tests used in glaucoma detection. However, implementation of enhanced referral schemes or glaucoma monitoring or management services would require equipment upgrades and associated training in at least half of the surveyed practices. There is strong interest in furthering optometric professional development and expanding the traditional role boundaries of optometrists, incorporating further education as an essential prerequisite to an enhanced scope of practice. Estudiar la disponibilidad actual y el uso del equipo diagnóstico para la detección de casos de glaucoma dentro de la práctica optométrica comunitaria, y explorar las actitudes de los optometristas hacia la mejora del alcance de la práctica clínica. Se desarrolló, validó y distribuyó una encuesta anónima a todos los optometristas de Irlanda. 199 optometristas (el 27% de los registrados) respondieron a la encuesta. El 87% tenía acceso a la triada tradicional de pruebas necesarias para realizar una detección adecuada de casos de glaucoma. La perimetría automatizada estándar fue la más comúnmente ausente (13%) de las tres pruebas de cribado esenciales. El 64% de los que respondieron al test indicó que la oftalmoscopia directa monocular era su técnica de primera elección para el examen del fondo del ojo. El 47% de los que respondieron a la encuesta tenía acceso a la tonometría de aplanación de contacto, aunque únicamente el 14% la utilizaba como primera elección durante los exámenes oculares rutinarios. Entre los 73 participantes con acceso tanto a la tonometría de contacto como a la de no contacto (NCT), el 80,8% utilizaban NCT preferentemente. Una mayoría significativa (98%) indicó su interés por mejorar los servicios de glaucoma, el 57% de los cuales afirmó que la formación post-grado era un requisito previo esencial para cualquier incremento del alcance de la práctica. Los optometristas irlandeses están bien equipados de las pruebas tradicionales utilizadas para la detección del glaucoma. Sin embargo, la introducción de programas de mejora de la derivación, o supervisión del glaucoma, o servicios de gestión, requeriría la modernización de los equipos y la formación asociada en al menos el 50% de los encuestados. Existe un fuerte interés por ampliar el desarrollo profesional de la optometría y expandir los límites de la función tradicional de los optometristas, incorporando mayor formación como requisito previo esencial para mejorar el alcance de la práctica.
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Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it