Current approaches in providing medical care for patients with corneal diseases in a large city

Objectives – to analyze the aspects of the specialized ophthalmological medical care for patients with corneal diseases on the example of St. Petersburg.

Material and methods. The data of the patients with corneal diseases treated in hospitals of St. Petersburg were copied onto specially developed cards from the official reporting forms and medical records of inpatients for the period of 5-year follow-up. To analyze the characteristics of patients with a continuous method of observation, we studied data on 2200 patients hospitalized in large ophthalmological hospitals in the city. We also interviewed 840 ophthalmologists in order to identify the main problems. The obtained data were statistically processed with the calculation of statistical series, extensive and intensive indicators. To assess the statistical significance of the differences in indicators in individual years of the observation, we used Student's t-test.

Results. The analysis of statistics revealed an increase in the number of patients hospitalized with corneal diseases in the period from 2015 to 2019. The following problems were identified: nonavailability of keratoplasty in the regions (28.6 per 100 respondents), imperfection of the regulatory basis for corneal transplantation (26.2 per 100 respondents), long waiting list for surgery (22.6 per 100 of respondents), lack of modern medical equipment in a medical organization (20.2 per 100 respondents) and an insufficient number of quotas for operations (20.2 per 100 respondents).

Conclusion. The availability of a sufficient amount of donor material will reduce the waiting time for specialized ophthalmic medical care for patients with severe corneal diseases, and will help create conditions for their satisfaction with the medical care provided to them.