Caring for the caregivers: a scoping review of spiritual and religious interventions for family caregivers in home care.

Emergency departments (ED) across the United States provide care to over 130 million patients annually, including approximately 2 million visits for eye-related conditions [–]. The majority of these eye-related visits do not necessitate hospital admission and are followed closely in an outpatient setting by an ophthalmologist []. As a result, ensuring that patients attend these outpatient appointments is essential for improving overall health outcomes. Consistent follow-up visits allow healthcare providers to monitor disease progression, optimize treatment strategies, and ultimately reduce 30-day readmission rates which, on average, can cost over $16,000 in US hospital costs [,]. Furthermore, the eyes serve as a proxy for systemic health, as evidenced by conditions such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease; thus, ophthalmic follow-up care can identify critical diagnostic and prognostic markers, ensuring prompt management and decreasing the overall burden on the healthcare system []. ED visits and the resulting follow-up appointments may be the only occasion in which these patients receive thorough eye examinations. Despite the established importance of follow-up care, loss to follow-up (LTFU) rates after ED visits remain very high, ranging from 25% to 63% [–]. Notably, these rates appear to be different when the chief complaint involves an eye-related concern, implying that unique factors associated with eye-related ED visits may influence follow-up rates [–]. A prior study examining the rates of LTFU after eye-related ED visits showed that many factors, including younger age and Medicaid utilization, were associated with increased rates of LTFU []. However, there remains a paucity of research examining how additional socioeconomic, diagnostic and demographic variables influence follow-up rates after ED ophthalmology consultations across different racial groups [–]. The current study aims to address these gaps in knowledge to better equip physicians to reduce the high rates of LTFU and improve patient outcomes. This 3-year, single-institution retrospective cohort study evaluated patients seen at Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) emergency department in Buffalo, New York for eye-related emergencies. The study was approved by the State University of New York at Buffalo Institutional Review Board (IRB), which granted a waiver of informed consent. Furthermore, the current study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.