Big-city caliber eye care in a rural area - Dr. Brian Nelson, MD

While assembling his first office, Dr. Nelson chose a ZEISS CIRRUS-OCT 500, VISUCAM 200, HUMPHREY Visual Field Analyzer II 740i, IOL Master 500, and ATLAS 9000 Corneal Topographer after researching his options. Due to his earlier career experience as an electrical engineer with a passion for information technology, he saw the great benefit in integrating all diagnostic equipment with Electronic Medical Records (EMR). For him the choice of “ecosystem” for his ophthalmic equipment was just as important as choosing his EMR. Fortunately, ZEISS FORUM had recently been released and proved to be the final piece of the puzzle for managing his equipment. In the last two years, his clinic upgraded to the IOL Master 700, the CIRRUS 6000, and CLARUS 500.

Having graduated with an electrical engineering degree before moving to medicine, Dr. Nelson plays an active role in managing his office and IT operations. For him there is a big benefit in having a single piece of software to train his staff on, whether performing biometry measurements for cataract surgery, doing visual field testing for glaucoma, or using OCT and fundus imaging for retinal diseases. Data security from both internal and external threats is an ever-increasing concern. However, by having a single local server to securely store his data, Dr. Nelson’s IT demands are streamlined. “I feel comfortable that with FORUM, my growing database is protected with simple backup solutions, including nightly cloud-based backups and weekly local off-site backups. I know I can recover from data loss very easily, should a problem arise.” Dr. Nelson has chosen a secure Canadian cloud backup provider that complies with his local privacy laws. He is able to access his data in the event of a total loss from the cloud, or can request a hard drive with the data with a very short turnaround time. The simplicity of data collection and storage provided with FORUM can reduce IT costs and complexity.

Dr. Nelson manages a large cohort of patients with glaucoma, and many who are at high risk of developing this disease. Glaucoma Workplace is designed with practitioners in mind, in this data-heavy area of ophthalmology. Structural and functional analysis of the optic nerve over time is the backbone of glaucoma monitoring. “When making a decision to start treatment, Glaucoma Workplace provides a clear and concise view of optic nerve disease progression for both patients and clinicians. With patient compliance on glaucoma treatment often being an issue, we work hard to motivate our patients to be a partner in the treatment plan and that requires them to understand our treatment decisions. As my practice ages, I see increasing value on my oldest baseline data in monitoring for and treating glaucoma, which as we all know is a chronic disease.”
With benefits like integration, data security and patient education, ZEISS FORUM has become a comprehensive solution for meeting the needs of a demanding rural town practice. “I had the great fortune in building my practice from the very beginning, using an EMR and ZEISS FORUM software. Over the last 6 years, I have seen enhancements to FORUM arrive that continue to improve my workflow and ability to provide big-city calibre eye care in a rural area. Synergy between diagnostic equipment is only available when all your technology works perfectly together, and in our practice, the ZEISS FORUM software suite certainly delivers.”