Resources and Materials on Pediatric Eye Health…………………………………………………………………………………………11 Dear Colleague, I know you’ve seen the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Comprehensive Pediatric Eye and Vision Examination that the AOA released last year, and I hope that it’s proved a useful tool for your practice. However, an issue we continue to face is that some of our pediatrician colleagues don’t appreciate the complexity of children’s vision and ocular health. Instead, they favor office-based screenings over comprehensive eye exams that can diagnose and treat vision problems with a potential lifelong impact. This can mean that parents have a false sense of security regarding their child’s ability to see and process visual information and that children aren’t making it into your office for the care they need to succeed in school, sports, and social activities. In an attempt to out to our colleagues across disciplines to improve the care for children and create long-term referral relationships, we have developed a small toolkit for you. It includes a draft letter to your local pediatricians (or family physicians) about the importance of providing the right care at the right time and offering a brief introduction to the pediatric guideline and you, their local doctor of optometry. The toolkit also includes a summary of the pediatric guideline designed specifically for the health professional audience, and links to the guideline itself. I hope you will use this toolkit, modify and personalize the draft letter, and share it with your local colleagues caring for children. I will also be offering myself as a further resource to those doctors, in the belief that we can provide the best care possible for our patients by working together. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Sincerely, Samuel D. Pierce, O.D. President, American Optometric Association LETTER TO PEDIATRICIAN (PHYSICIAN ACQUAINTANCE)
Resources and Materials on Pediatric Eye Health…………………………………………………………………………………………11 Dear Colleague, I know you’ve seen the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Comprehensive Pediatric Eye and Vision Examination that the AOA released last year, and I hope that it’s proved a useful tool for your practice. However, an issue we continue to face is that some of our pediatrician colleagues don’t appreciate the complexity of children’s vision and ocular health. Instead, they favor office-based screenings over comprehensive eye exams that can diagnose and treat vision problems with a potential lifelong impact. This can mean that parents have a false sense of security regarding their child’s ability to see and process visual information and that children aren’t making it into your office for the care they need to succeed in school, sports, and social activities. In an attempt to out to our colleagues across disciplines to improve the care for children and create long-term referral relationships, we have developed a small toolkit for you. It includes a draft letter to your local pediatricians (or family physicians) about the importance of providing the right care at the right time and offering a brief introduction to the pediatric guideline and you, their local doctor of optometry. The toolkit also includes a summary of the pediatric guideline designed specifically for the health professional audience, and links to the guideline itself. I hope you will use this toolkit, modify and personalize the draft letter, and share it with your local colleagues caring for children. I will also be offering myself as a further resource to those doctors, in the belief that we can provide the best care possible for our patients by working together. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Sincerely, Samuel D. Pierce, O.D. President, American Optometric Association LETTER TO PEDIATRICIAN (PHYSICIAN ACQUAINTANCE)
AOA%20Provider%20to%20Provider%20Toolkit_9.17.18.docx