Table 2 |
|||
| Characteristics of participating optometrists by formal education | |||
| Master of science in clinical optometrya | |||
| All (n=74) | No (n=51) | Yes (n=22) | |
| Gender, n (%) | |||
| Female | 43 (58) | 30 (59) | 13 (59) |
| Male | 31 (42) | 21 (41) | 9 (41) |
| Number of years as practicing optometrist, mean (sd) ** | 12 (±9) | 10 (±8) | 16 (±8) |
| Preferred method of retinal examination, n (%) | |||
| Undilated indirect ophthalmoscopy | 35 (47) | 22 (43) | 13 (59) |
| Retinal fundus photography | 25 (34) | 16 (31) | 8 (36) |
| Undilated direct ophthalmoscopy | 9 (12) | 9 (17) | 0 (0) |
| Other | 5 (7) | 4 (8) | 1 (1) |
| Retinal examinations methods used in patients with diabetes, n (%) | |||
| Undilated retinal photography | 46 (62) | 30 (59) | 15 (68) |
| Undilated indirect ophthalmoscopy* | 39 (53) | 23 (45) | 16 (73) |
| Dilated indirect ophthalmoscopy | 15 (20) | 9 (18) | 6 (27) |
| Dilated retinal photography | 11 (15) | 8 (16) | 3 (14) |
| Undilated direct ophthalmoscopy* | 11 (15) | 11 (22) | 0 (0) |
| Available instruments for retinal examination and imaging, n (%) | |||
| Direct ophthalmoscope and/or indirect slit-lamp ophthalmoscopy | 71 (96) | 48 (94) | 22 (100) |
| Retinal fundus camera | 65 (88) | 44 (86) | 20 (91) |
| Scanning-laser ophthalmoscope (Optomap) | 19 (26) | 10 (20) | 9 (41) |
a Missing data for 1 participant.
Student t-test P*<0.05 and P**<0.01 between optometrists with and without MSc in clinical optometry.
Sundling et al. BMC Health Services Research 2013 13:17 doi:10.1186/1472-6963-13-17
