Telemedicine For Anterior Eye Diseases

项目摘要： 眼科远程医疗可以为数百万无法获得服务的美国人提供眼科护理。 K23的这份提案证明了玛丽亚·A博士的观点。伍德沃德致力于研究，解决一个国家 和全球公共卫生保健需求以及她对追求研究者独立性的承诺。 虽然在美国，后眼部疾病导致大多数视力障碍， 国家眼科研究所（NEI）的战略计划指出，前眼疾病导致大多数就诊， 全球数百万人因此失明。NEI计划还强调， 对研究的重大需求，可以“建立远程医疗程序的安全性，可靠性和可行性 通过试点研究”和“确定哪些眼科应用适合远程医疗，同时仍然 保持了现场检查的准确性、灵敏度和特异性。“虽然资金 研究项目已经建立了眼底照相用于糖尿病视网膜病变的远程评估，没有试点 项目的重点是外眼和前眼。 伍德沃德博士的职业公共卫生目标是将负担得起的和可获得的眼科护理扩展到 为服务不足的社区提供服务，以便在早期发现眼部疾病。她的职业研究目标是 来测试眼科技术在远程医疗中的应用。项目近期目标 是双重的。首先，申请人寻求开发严格和准确的方法来检测关键的外部环境。 和前眼部疾病的治疗。申请人将进行试点研究，测试外部 对患有已知的前眼部疾病的受试者的摄影方案。第二，申请人寻求验证 视力问卷，将加强全面的远程医疗评估，以确定眼睛健康， 是否存在前眼部疾病。申请人将管理多个预先验证的视力 问卷（例如，国家眼科研究所视觉功能问卷），并将答案与 临床检查结果。 伍德沃德博士的研究得到了培训目标的支持，这些目标将为她提供基础， 成为一名独立的调查员。申请人将利用大学的巨大资源， 密歇根大学和研究导师的支持，包括博士保罗李和大卫穆什，完成三个 具体的培训目标：1）研究方法方面的专门知识，2）远程医疗方案方面的卓越能力 发展，和3）完善的眼科成像知识。伍德沃德博士已经制定了一个计划， 课程，个性化的指导，并指导自学，以确保实现这些目标。在这个过程中， 她将获得罗伯特·伍德约翰逊的健康和保健研究硕士学位 基金会临床学者计划。

Project Summary: Ocular telemedicine can deliver eye care to millions of Americans who do not have access to services. This K23 proposal demonstrates Dr. Maria A. Woodward's commitment to research that addresses a national and global public health care need and her commitment to the pursuit of investigator independence. Although posterior eye diseases cause the majority of visual impairment in the United States, the National Eye Institute's (NEI) strategic plan states that anterior eye diseases result in the majority of visits to eye care professionals nationally and cause blindness in millions globally. The NEI plan also emphasizes the significant need for research that can "establish the safety, reliability and feasibility of telemedicine procedures through pilot studies" and "determine which ophthalmic applications are amenable to telemedicine, while still preserving the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity achieved with in-person examinations." Although funded research projects have established fundus photography for remote assessment of diabetic retinopathy, no pilot projects have focused on the external and anterior eye. Dr. Woodward's career public health goal is to extend affordable and accessible eye care to underserved communities in order to detect eye conditions earlier in their course. Her career research goal is to test applications of ophthalmic technology that are amenable to telemedicine. The immediate project goals are two-fold. First, the applicant seeks to develop rigorous and accurate methods for detecting key external and anterior eye diseases using external photography. The applicant will conduct pilot studies testing external photography protocols on subjects with known anterior eye diseases. Second, the applicant seeks to validate a vision questionnaire that will augment comprehensive telemedicine assessments to determine eye health and whether or not anterior eye diseases are present. The applicant will administer multiple pre-validated vision questionnaires (e.g., the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire) and correlate answers with clinical examination findings. Dr. Woodward's research is supported by training goals that will provide the foundation for her to develop into an independent investigator. The applicant will utilize the immense resources at the University of Michigan and the support of research mentors, including Drs. Paul Lee and David Musch, to accomplish three specific training aims: 1) expertise in research methodology, 2) excellence in telemedicine programmatic development, and 3) refined knowledge of ophthalmic imaging. Dr. Woodward has set forth a plan for targeted coursework, individualized mentorship, and directed self-study to assure achieving these aims. In the process, she will obtain a master's degree in health and health care research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.