An interventional study on awareness, knowledge and services provided for the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma by optometrists in primary healthcare centre of Kolar district

Abstract

Aim of this study was to assess the awareness, knowledge services provided for glaucoma among optometrists at primary health care.A cross-sectional questionnaire based study involving 36 Optometrists from Primary Healthcare Centre and government hospitals of Kolar and Chikkaballapur district, who participated in the ‘World Glaucoma awareness program’. The responses were compiled and analyzed for each category of questions using paired t test.Out of 36 participants 31 (86.11%) were males and 5 (13.89%) were females with an average age of 39.42+10.5 years and average duration of service in PHC/CHC/Taluk Hospital was 14.08 years. Among them 88.9% were aware about glaucoma being a disease due to increased intra ocular pressure (IOP). Although 69.4% knew that it leads to irreversible blindness, 75% were unaware of the symptoms that glaucoma presents with. 53% were unaware of the normal IOP of the eye and 41.7% the test to detect the same. 33.3% of hospitals had Shiotz tonometer but only 22.2% were aware of testing the IOP and peripheral visual field for diagnosing glaucoma. 61.1% were not familiar with any antiglaucoma drug and 52.8% about the duration of treatment. Post-test analysis was statistically significant with respect to the Awareness, Knowledge and Services (P=0.001, P=0.001, P=0.001).This study reveals the lacunae and highlights the importance of routine eye examination of rural population by Optometrists for early detection of glaucoma through improved services and timely referral to Ophthalmologists for further evaluation, thereby reducing the burden of visual impairment.