CERA: Digitising Eye Disease Education
Few are aware that the most common cause of blindness in working-aged Australians isn’t accident or age, but rather inherited eye diseases. Even fewer know that with treatment, the progression of many of these diseases can be halted well before blindness sets in.
It’s this poor understanding of inherited retinal diseases that The Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) has in its sights with its Improving Access to Blindness Treatments Through Digital Education project.
Enabled by a $49,817 grant from Telematics Trust, CERA has partnered with leading patient advocacy group, Retina Australia to develop a digital health educational tool that will transform patients and clinicians' understanding of inherited retinal diseases.
By making CERA’s world-leading clinical expertise as easy as possible to access using innovative digital technologies, clinicians and patients alike will be empowered to catch and treat inherited eye diseases – sparing many more Australians from vision loss.
A Quick Upskill
There have been incredible advancements in the treatment of eye diseases over the last decade, including recently-approved advanced ocular gene therapies. While these rapid and revolutionary developments are exciting, the methods of educating clinicians and patients are currently limited to textbooks and university lectures, resulting in a slow rollout of knowledge.
CERA is all too aware of the impact this delay can have on patients' lives and livelihoods. Upskilling clinicians and patients as quickly as possible is essential to preventing misdiagnoses, improving treatment and reducing the impact of inherited eye diseases on the community.
The grant funding provided by Telematics has allowed CERA to bring One Right Eye, a company that specialises in digital health education, aboard the project.
Leveraging CERA’s extensive inherited eye disease expertise and their own proprietary educational software, One Right Eye are developing curated digital materials, including 3-dimensional interactive eye images, that will bring the diagnosis and treatment of inherited eye diseases into the 21st century.
Eye Care, No Matter the Distance
An additional challenge in the diagnosis and treatment of inherited eye diseases is distance. The gene therapies that are revolutionising treatment of these diseases are currently only available in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth – which presents an obstacle in a country as big as ours for rural and remote patients in need of care.
By using innovative digital technologies, CERA is helping eliminate this challenge. Their digital education tool will be accessible wherever clinicians themselves are, ensuring that patients receive the most accurate and up-to-date care closer to home.
Professor Lauren Ayton, Co-head of the Retinal Gene Therapy Unit at CERA, provided the following remarks when asked about Telematics support of the project:
“The support from the Telematics Trust has allowed us to work with people in the community to learn more about their education needs on diagnosis, prognosis and management of their eye disease. Through our partnership with Retina Australia, the leading advocacy group for people with inherited eye disease, and One Right Eye, a digital health education platform, we are developing co-designed interactive education modules for both patients and clinicians. We are grateful to the Telematics Trust for the support, and look forward to rolling out our innovation in the near future.”
A Visionary Mission
While the Improving Access to Blindness Treatments Through Digital Education project marks a thrilling step for Lauren and her team, they know their work is far from over.
Focus groups and further research studies will be utilised to measure the success of the project and see where similar educational technologies can be effectively used next. It’s all in a day's work for CERA, as they continue on their mission to eliminate the major eye diseases that cause vision loss and blindness.
To find more information on the Centre for Eye Research, and to support their life-changing work through donations or fundraising, we encourage you to head to their website.
