Julia Yamazaki-Tan, a medical student and part-time clinical assistant at QEI, has investigated barriers faced by eye care providers when examining patients with physical impairments.
Julia noticed challenges obtaining good eye images for some patients while working as an assistant in QEI’s Woolloongabba and Clayfield clinics. She mentioned her concerns to QEI’s Dr Alexandra Manta, who encouraged Julia to design a research project to investigate further.
“It was nothing to do with the technology,” Julia says. “It was simple things like the table heights not being as adjustable as we’d like, or the angle of some headrests.
“It just felt like a small thing but one that really could degrade the quality of patient care over time,” Julia says.
With support from Dr Alexandra Manta and Professor Mark Radford, Julia designed a survey and collected data from more than 50 ophthalmology care providers in Queensland and New South Wales.
Her study examined whether imaging machines are being built to accommodate disability, and, if so, what barriers might be preventing their use by optometry and ophthalmology practices.
The survey found that while accessible imaging devices exist, they’re not widely used. Eye care providers point to high costs and design issues as major barriers.
While 40% of practices cited wheelchair use by patients as the most significant barrier to imaging the eye, the survey uncovered other factors including patients presenting with intellectual disability, dementia and neuro diversity. Respondents reported that better design of tabletop-mounted systems, adaptability, training, and funding would improve the uptake and use of accessible devices.
Julia presented her research findings at the Royal Australian and New Zealand (RANZCO) annual congress in November.
Click here to view the research poster.
