WAEH | Urgent request for information

REQUEST 1 – Rotterdam Eye Hospital – Netherlands:

Dear colleagues,

Several reports have recently been published about post-operative complications in surgical patients with COVID-19 infections (see the 2 examples below). Based on these reports, the Dutch Surgical Society has advised that all patients should be screened for COVID-19 before elective surgical procedures. Question is whether this risk and proposed screening-measure should also apply to eye surgery.

Question: what pre-operative COVID-19 screening policies are other eye clinics adopting, especially when scaling back up towards normal capacity?

Thanks for your input!

The reports:

• COVID-19 Outbreak and Surgical Practice: Unexpected Fatality in Perioperative Period
• Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 inf 

Igor Schillevoort
Rotterdam Eye Hospital

REQUEST 2 – Syney Eye Hospital – Australia

Melanie Lai – Orthoptic Advisor – would like to get in touch with members of the WAEH regarding the infection control procedures and use of PPE (by staff and patients) when performing automated visual field assessments using the Humphrey Visual Field Analyzers or Octopus devices. The Sydney Eye Hospital is looking to come up with a position statement on how they proceed regarding visual field testing during the current COVID situation we are all navigating.

About Melanie:
“I am the Orthoptic Advisor for our local health district, which includes four hospitals, one of which is The Sydney Eye Hospital where I am based. I manage the largest Orthoptic department in NSW and my role involves providing professional and operational leadership and clinical governance for Orthoptic services across the organisation. As part of the response to COVID, I am working at a local and organisational level to coordinate workforce surge plans and provide service level advice regarding Orthoptic services and patient care. I am also working closely with nursing and medical colleagues to coordinate our response to outpatient clinics in the current and changing COVID environment”

Melanie Lai
Orthoptic Discipline Advisor SESLHD – Orthoptic Department Head SSEH