Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) and its Management & DVD Audit

Nicola Dunlop - Advanced Nurse Specialist, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London

We are developing a DVD about thyroid eye disease (TED) with support from the Friends of Moorfields, the TEDct and the BTF. The objective of this project is to provide thyroid eye disease information and education to patients and their families.

The BTF Nursing Award will provide payment for additional resource during the auditing process of the DVD and for the reprint of future DVDs.

The DVD acts as a teaching tool, therefore medical students and junior doctor and nurses can also benefit from this tool. It encompasses the medical, radiological and surgical management of TED. It employs surgeons, nurses, orthoptics, endocrinologist, technicians and the nurse counsellor to address the management of the disease and the body image issues patients cope with. It also provides graphical demonstration of the disease progression and the surgical intervention patients will require. It covers thyroid eye disease, decompression, lid lowering and squint surgery PDF leaflets.

The next step or second objective is to undertake an audit to ascertain whether the DVD has indeed answered the many questions that patients have.

On completion of the DVD draft all physicians were given a DVD. Their comments will aid the final editing process. All patients, staff and sponsors will be given an opportunity to see the finished product and offer feedback at the official viewing. An evaluation will be undertaken at the official viewing.

An audit of the information provided on the DVD will be carried out in the first three months following the official release of the DVD. Each patient on consultation will be given the DVD and the questionnaire which will be returned at their next visit to the hospital which must be within the audit time frame. A health care assistant will be employed four hours per week to collate the data and enter on a database. The project and the information conveyed in the DVD will be audited and submitted to a journal for publication.