RESIDENT RECOGNITION OF OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA - EFFECTS OF AN EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION

To test an educational intervention's effect on improving detection of glaucoma by direct ophthalmoscopy, 14 medicine residents examined fiv e patients, two with ophthalmoscopic changes of glaucoma and three wit h normal fundi. The residents observed a standardized slide/narrative educational intervention reviewing glaucomatous ophthalmoscopic change s and then re-examined the same patients eight to 12 weeks later. The intervention's odds of improving residents' diagnostic impression were significant (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.3-3.6), with significant improvemen t in sensitivity (p = 0.02) and a trend toward improved specificity. T hese findings confirm that the diagnosis of glaucomatous ocular change s on eye examinations by medicine residents can be improved with a bri ef educational intervention.