Assessing Vision

I had a patient with Macular Degeneration that I would like to discuss and learn more

I would like to talk about what I did, and discuss any other aspects of assessment I could have involved. I would also like to talk about aspects of intervention that I could have considered, and the important aspects of assessment in the home environment.

1) I asked her if she could see me, and my facial features - She said she could see me, but my features were a blur. She also said it sometimes takes her a while to determine who a person is and she often relies on hearing their voice.

2) I stood 2 metres away from her and she could identify that i was holding a pen, and a pack of cards, however she couldnt identify the clear glass mug. She reported to me that she can see the pen/cards because they had bold colouring.

She commented that she cannot play cards, due to not being able to see the cards. I prompted her further to determine she had to bring them closer to her eyes and she gave up due to frustration and the time impact.

3) I asked her to copy a clock and a house. I observed her bringing the object/paper closer to her eyes so she could see the detail.

4) She could identify the number of fingers I was holding up - indicating that she can identify and see objects with little amount of detail. This confirmed that she was able to see objects within one metre, however the detail was difficult for her

Reflecting on this....The kitchen task confirmed the observations I had already discovered.

She could see the objects infront of her however using them and seeing the detail was difficult. She was able to identify the milk in the fridge, the cup, the jug, the spoon, the containers. However, switch on jug, holes in the socket, labels on the containers.

Is there anything else that I could have assessed??

With my knowledge of Macular Degeneration looking like this.... it all makes sense...

At home I would have looked at her safety in the kitchen: oven, stove top, microwave, jug, toaster and any other electonic item she uses often

I would have also looked at her indep/safety locking and unlocking the house/door, accessing the house and negociating steps, mobilsing indoors, turning on the shower, washing machine, dryer etc

I would have checked out the internal environment - cords, positioning of furniture, mats, duvet, curtains etc

Is there anything else I could have considered?

Can we brainstorm intervention together?

Jess