Basic Patient Workup and Special Tests

This course is intended to train beginner and intermediate level technicians and front office staff in the steps necessary to complete a basic ophthalmic work up. This course will give a basic foundation to what the patient workup is like, what testing is done during a patient work up, and what different testing terminology means. This allows all ophthalmic staff to gain a solid foundation for what testing is needed for an ophthalmic exam.

The student will learn the following concepts from this course:

• List the steps included in complete history taking including important points to touch on when taking background history on patients.
• Be able to document a history
• Describe how to elicit and document a complete chief complaint
• List the steps to follow to perform a full work up on a patient
• Describe how to evaluate pupils including how to document an APD
• Describe how to perform and document confrontational visual fields
• Describe how to perform and document version testing
• List the steps for checking intraocular pressure by applanation
• Identify the most commonly used dilation drops
• Describe when to do a BAT
• Identify what BAT results could mean
• List the steps to BAT testing
• Describe how PAM testing works
• List the steps to do PAM testing
• Identify what Stereo testing is
• List the steps in Stereo testing
• Document stereo testing results
• Describe how to perform color testing with the Ishihara test plates
• Document color vision testing done with Ishihara test plates
• Describe how to perform the Worth 4 Dot test
• Interpret results from the Worth 4 Dot test
• Identify what a Tonopen is and what measurement it is used for
• Identify the correct endpoint in taking manual
• List the steps in appropriate order for taking manual

This course should take approximately 2 hour to complete.

This course has been approved by the AOA Commission on Paraoptometric Certification (CPC) for continuing education credit for use toward paraoptometric certification renewal.