Patient Education Concepts Announces the Immediate Availability of a KAMRA® Inlay Consent Video

Patient Education Concepts Announces the Immediate Availability of a KAMRA® Inlay Consent Video

PRESS RELEASE:

For Immediate Release:

June 30, 2016 – Houston, TX…. A 12 – minute video, Understanding Your Procedure: KAMRA® Inlay,” is now available from Houston-based Patient Education Concepts (PEC). The video presents how the KAMRA inlay works; explains how the procedure is performed and covers post-operative instructions, side-effects and potential risks and complications.

“We were honored to have AcuFocus elect PEC to produce this video,” said Robert Watson, President of PEC. “This program will save their customers a lot of chair time explaining this exciting and unique method for the treatment of presbyopia.”

It is well documented that an effective informed consent process helps maintain good communication between physicians and patients. Since 1982, Patient Education Concepts has provided video assisted informed consent programs to assist with the requirement that ophthalmologists must disclose risks and complications and verify their patients understand those risks.

“Our goal in working with PEC to produce a consent video on the KAMRA inlay is to assure each and every patient considering this device be well informed prior to giving their consent for surgery,” said Wellentina Greer, AcuFocus’ Director of Global Strategic Marketing. “We firmly believe that better patient education leads to improved compliance and better outcomes. Having our surgeons utilizing this program will certainly enhance the communication process, increase patient satisfaction and generate even more interest in the KAMRA inlay.”

“Because informed consent delivery methods vary from practice to practice, PEC is offering the KAMRA consent video in a variety of formats so practices can choose where and how they want to educate their patients,” added Mr. Watson. “It is available via DVDs or MP4 format.”

TO ORDER OR PREVIEW:

Understanding Your Procedure: KAMRA Inlay is available for preview at www.patientedconcepts.com/KAMRA. To order a DVD or MP4 copy, call (800) 436-9126 or email: [email protected].

 

Can You Say, “Dysfunctional Lens Syndrome?”

Can You Say, “Dysfunctional Lens Syndrome?”

shutterstock_115796800For about 5 years before I had cataract surgery, I complained to my eye doctor that my vision was getting worse and worse. I was having problems seeing my golf ball and reading my computer. His response each year was, “You don’t have a cataract yet. Here is a new glasses prescription and I’ll see you next year.”

Finally, along came the Visiometrics HD Analyzer. Last January, it showed that I had a great deal of “Ocular Scatter” and although I could be corrected to 20/25 with glasses, the test showed a simulated image of how my scatter was affecting my vision.  My response was, “Yes! I’ve been telling you that is how I see, so will you now PLEASE take out my cataracts?”

In most practices, there is a long span of time between being diagnosed with presbyopia and the official pronouncement that the patient has a cataract. Patients know the quality of their vision is progressively declining. But because the doctor can’t always see or measure a qualified cataract, the patient is not given the option of fixing the problem and is forced to live with poor vision for many years. However, many Baby Boomers, like me, would much rather pay for better vision now and avoid waiting to have cataract surgery in the distant future.

Dysfunctional Lens Syndrome (DLS) is a great way to educate patients about lens change and the HD Analyzer is quickly becoming one of the most important diagnostic tools in helping refractive surgeons determine whether the best refractive procedure for any given patient should be a corneal approach or a lens approach.

Dr. George O. Waring IV commented that many of his patients who had LASIK years ago would come in complaining that their LASIK had worn off. “These patients would go on to have a clear lens extraction, however we knew these weren’t clear lenses,” he said. “The term Dysfunctional Lens Syndrome has greatly facilitated what used to be a challenging discussion prior to the characterization of this spectrum of the aging lens’s changes.”

Simply defined, DLS has three Stages: Stage I – 40s to 50s with Presbyopia; Stage II – 50s – 60s with decreased functional vision due to lens changes; and Stage III – cataracts as defined by Medicare. If a 50 year-old patient has a low OSI (Optical Scatter Index) the surgeon can explain Stage I DLS and how they would likely be a candidate for a corneal inlay or blended vision with LASIK. However, if a 45 year-old patient comes in for LASIK and has a relatively high OSI, the surgeon can explain Stage II DLS and that a corneal inlay or LASIK would not make them happy because, to quote Visiometrics motto, “Scatter Matters!”

What do you call a lens replacement procedure when the lens is cloudy but not a Stage III cataract? Dr. Mark Packer in a recent article in Ophthalmology Times said, “Refractive Lens Exchange means the primary purpose of the surgery is to reduce or eliminate the need for eyeglasses. Refractive Dysfunctional Lens Surgery means that the primary purpose of surgery is to improve functional vision impaired by lenticular aberrations and the secondary purpose of surgery is to reduce or eliminate the need for eyeglasses.”  I vote for Dysfunctional Lens Replacement but definitely not Refractive Lens Exchange or Clear Lens Extraction (unless the sole complaint is wearing glasses or contacts).

Isn’t it time for eye doctors to stop telling patients that they do not have cataracts when indeed they do? DLS may not be a popular name at this time, but any patient at any age can understand the DLS concept, especially when they are shown the results of the HD Analyzer and how lens scatter affects their vision. With over half the US population being presbyopic and over 80 million Baby Boomers that don’t want to suffer through decades of declining vision, Dysfunctional Lens Replacement has the potential of becoming the procedure of choice for millions of patients in Stages I and II of DLS.

Informed Consent – Yesterday & Today

The Times They Are A Changing

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by Bob Dylan & Bob Watson

Come doctors and lawyers
Please hear the call
Don’t keep patients waiting
Don’t block up the hall
Don’t gather your patients
Around old DVDs
Informed Consent Online
Will put them at ease
The old ways are rapidly agin’
For the times they are a-changing.

In preparation for an exciting new product launch we’re planning for November, my staff suggested I write an article about how I got into the ophthalmology business and where my passion for patient education began. I had RK surgery in 1982. I was miserable with extreme light sensitivity and had to be driven to work for the first two weeks. My vision was blurry both near and distance for a month. I thought I was the stupidest person in the world for having Radial Keratotomy. (more…)

PEC Announces Availability of its IOL and LVC Counselor™ Online and Tablet Interactive Counseling Tools

HOUSTON, Texas – June 30, 2014 – PEC (Patient Education Concepts, Inc.) is pleased to announce the availability of the IOL and LVC Counselor™ Online Tools for use on practices’ websites as well as on tablet devices, such as the iPad. The origins of this new online interactive program began back in 2007 and 2008 when PEC released its IOL and LVC Counselor™ software applications on CD for use on computers. Both of these earlier programs received critical acclaim within the ophthalmic industry for their innovative educational approach of using narrated videos and 3D animations to help counselors explain complex IOL and LVC options. (more…)