3 reasons to read AOA’s newest clinical practice guideline

January’s National Glaucoma Awareness Month is the perfect time to review the AOA’s recently released evidence-based clinical practice guideline, Care of the Patient with Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma, First Edition.
An estimated 112 million people across the globe are expected to have the condition by 2040. Glaucoma has been referred to as the “silent thief of vision” because it occurs without warning and is pain-free.
The guideline, rigorously researched and authored by the AOA Evidence-based Optometry (EBO) Committee, was approved by the AOA Board of Trustees in October. It focuses on primary open-angle glaucoma. Doctors of optometry will be key in addressing the condition as its prevalence grows, says Carl Urbanski, O.D., chair of the EBO Committee.
“The new guideline covers multiple new technologies and medications for diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma that were not developed or available when the first (consensus-based) guideline was published,” Dr. Urbanski says.
But there is much more to the guideline, as Dr. Urbanski explains in a video.
A consensus-based glaucoma guide was first published by the AOA in 1994 with a revision in 1998 and review in 2001.
Interested in learning more about glaucoma care?
The AOA EyeLearn Professional Development Hub offers additional education and training webinars available as part of the AOA OD Talks Webinar Series, tailored for AOA-member doctors of optometry, and the Para Speaker Series for paraoptometric professionals. Enroll for a course that interests you below:
Para Speaker Series: Diagnosis and Management of Glaucoma
Our Paraoptometric staff is vital for any office to efficiently see patients. While the doctors are quick to order testing for our glaucoma patients, the doctors are too often not as quick to explain how or why we order the tests that we do. This course will help our Paraoptometric staff to understand the various glaucomas: what they are, how they progress, what happens during the development and progression of glaucoma, why we order the tests that we do, and various treatment options. The course will hopefully give our Paraoptometrics a better understanding of this potentially blinding disease, and the importance of their role in caring for these patients.
Eighty million people worldwide are diagnosed with glaucoma, and the number is increasing daily. This lecture will focus on the importance of the paraoptometric role in diagnosing and managing glaucoma. We will review the etiology, treatment, and prognosis of all variants of this disease. Additionally, we will cover testing such as tonometry, pachymetry, visual field, corneal hysteresis, optical coherence tomography, and fundus photos. As paraoptometric healthcare professionals, you will better understand glaucoma, and how to incorporate that understanding into patient care.
Para Speaker Series: Mastering Glaucoma Medications: A Guide for Paraoptometric Professionals
Eighty million people worldwide are diagnosed with glaucoma, and the number is increasing daily. This lecture will focus on the importance of understanding the glaucoma medications used in therapy.
Glaucoma is one of the most common vision-threatening disorders that we see in our exam chair on a daily basis. Clinical and scientific evidence supports the use of numerous tests to help in the diagnosis, management and follow-up of glaucoma, as well as numerous treatment options, including medications/eyedrops, laser, MIGS and incisional surgery. This interactive glaucoma lecture will review and update glaucoma first line treatment options.
AOA OD Talks Webinar Series: Surgical Considerations in Glaucoma
Optometrists often encounter patients that continue to progress even after exhausting topical medications and/or selective laser trabeculoplasty. The next step in managing many of these patients is to consider surgical intervention and a referral to an ophthalmologist for a procedure. This course will cover the various considerations of intervention when drops no longer can get the job done, as well as a discussion around the role the optometrist plays in managing glaucoma patients after surgical intervention has occurred.
AOA OD Talks Webinar Series - New Technologies in Glaucoma: What the Future Holds
The glaucoma space continues to be flooded with new diagnostic and therapy options. This course will update the participant on new and future diagnostic technologies, including those for intraocular pressure measurement, optical coherence tomography, static perimetry, and digital fundus photography. Additionally, the newest options in non-surgical therapies will be discussed including sustained release medications, preservative free medications, and combination medications.
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