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Research

Misdiagnosis is a well-established problem in eye care that may lead to poor patient outcomes and unproductive use of specialist services. Retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are among the leading causes of vision loss in Australia as well as world-wide. Therefore, misdiagnosis and subsequent delayed or incorrect management of such conditions risks visual impairment and blindness. The effects may further lead to poor quality of life and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Clinical decision support systems are tools designed to provide primary care practitioners with timely, patient-specific recommendations to improve diagnosis and management. Recently, artificial intelligence has come to the forefront of clinical decision support development sparking tremendous interest due to its potential to increase efficiency, productivity, quality, affordability and accessibility. However, the efficacy and implementation of clinical decision support tools in a clinical setting requires validation. Practitioner readiness to embrace these technologies is poorly understood. Adoption has further been met by concerns about automation, comprehensiveness and reliability.

This project aims to investigate the efficacy and implementation of providing primary care practitioners with various clinical decision support tools in retinal disease, including but not limited to artificial intelligence-driven diagnostic and referral analytics and decision support.

Biography

Sharon is a therapeutically qualified optometrist and researcher at the Centre for Eye Health, UNSW. After completing her undergraduate studies in 2017, Sharon spent 3 years working as a clinical optometrist in Dubbo, NSW where she played an active role in public health care, servicing local Indigenous communities and outreach clinics. Her experience in regional Australia led to a keen interest in chronic eye conditions, particularly diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and glaucoma. 

Education

2020-current – PhD candidate, Centre for Eye Health, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney

2012-2017 – BOptom(Hons)/BSci, UNSW Sydney