An All-Patient Survey to Improve Care

An annual survey that examines patient vision promises to help doctors improve their understanding of disease progression and the effectiveness of treatment at the U-M Kellogg Eye Center.

Jennifer S. Weizer, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and UMHS Service Chief of Ophthalmology, is leading an initiative to implement administration of the National Eye Institute’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-9) to all adult patients at the Kellogg Eye Center. Building on the innovative idea of Josh Stein, M.D., M.S., to incorporate the VFQ-9 into routine clinical care, the new initiative will see that all adult patients at Kellogg are included to capture their perceptions of how their vision impacts their functioning.

The nine-question test is easy to understand and uses a number scale to evaluate activities such as reading, driving, socializing and finding items in a kitchen cabinet in order to evaluate how eyesight affects patients’ lives.

“There’s a push in healthcare to become more patient-centered,” said Weizer, who specializes in glaucoma, patient safety and quality improvement. “Many are looking to physicians across the country to more directly incorporate patient feelings about their health, how it affects them and the way they function.”

While the VFQ has been used extensively for research, there was previously no widespread effort to ensure patients used the test to provide input as part of their clinical care. Peer-reviewed studies have shown that administering the VFQ is effective in assessing the natural history and effects of treatments for multiple eye diseases.

Eye clinics across U-M are administering the survey to their adult patients, either through their patient portals or as they check into a clinic appointment. The responses to the VFQ will help doctors improve their understanding of disease progression and the effectiveness of treatment at the U-M Kellogg Eye Center. “The answers to the survey will help us tailor our efforts and our treatments for more individualized care in the future,” said Weizer.