The objective of the project is to increase patient knowledge of preventive strategies as they pertain to eye health and vision care through the adaptation of the Diabetes Eye Examination Report to the needs of Florida residents with diabetes. According to the United States 2000 Census, over 1.5 million (10%) Floridians over the age of 5 do not speak English “very well” and 3.5 million (23%) Floridians speak a language other than English in the home. After English, the predominant languages represented in Florida include Spanish, Creole, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese (descending order).
The ultimate goal of this project is to increase the proportion of persons with diabetes who have dilated fundus examinations at appropriate intervals and to reduce visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy. This goal is consistent with the objectives of Healthy People 2010, a national promotion and disease prevention initiative. The key message of this project is that vision loss from diabetes is often preventable with timely detection and treatment. Many patients do not recognize the importance of periodic dilated fundus examinations in the absence of ocular symptoms, nor do they recognize the benefits of early detection of diabetic eye disease.
This Website incorporates a brief multilingual video message that may be presented in-office to patients with diabetes. In addition, a patient education message that supplements the triplicate Eye Exam Report forms (available through the FOA) is published in the predominant languages represented in Florida. This simple tool is important for the welfare of patients with diabetes. The intent is for the white copy to be distributed to the patient’s primary care provider or endocrinologist, the yellow copy distributed to the patient, and the pink copy maintained in the patient’s medical record. The back side of the patient’s copy includes educational materials targeted at a layperson while the physician’s copy includes information directed at a primary health care provider. Florida eye care providers may obtain NCR triplicate forms from the Florida Optometric Association.
We invite you to incorporate these resources into your practice.
Project Supporters
This project was a collaborative effort between the Florida Optometric Association and Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry and supported by the HEALTHY VISION COMMUNITY AWARDS PROGRAM, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, U.S.A.
Visits since January 11, 2007:
