Triage Clinic opens at Eye Institute
A new triage clinic in the Eye Institute at Harborview is helping patients gain faster access to appropriate ophthalmic specialty care as needed.
“It’s working well for these patients,” said triage optometrist Jeff Dabundo, OD, who joined the Eye Institute in January. “The patients can be seen in the triage clinic in a timely way to assess the urgency.”
These are often established patients of the Eye Institute with an acute problem who can be fast-tracked to see their ophthalmologist, if indicated. Additionally, new patients can be referred through the Harborview emergency department, an urgent care clinic or their primary care provider. Dr. Dabundo is seeing about 20 of these patients a day.
Their symptoms can vary, like new flashes and floaters in the vision (which can be a sign of a retinal problem), unexplained eye pain, or sudden changes in vision. Some patients can be treated optometrically by Dr. Dabundo, but many need to be fast-tracked into ophthalmology. For example, one such recent patient required immediate surgery for a retinal detachment.
“We have an aging population and a diabetes epidemic which create high demand for specialty care ophthalmology,’ Dabundo said. “The triage clinic assists by both providing rapid access to eye care, while also filtering out cases that do not require ophthalmologic care, allowing the ophthalmology clinics to focus on the cases that need them most.”
Dr. Dabundo earned his B.S. in neuroscience from Washington State University before completing his optometric training at Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia. There, he also completed postgraduate optometric training at Wills Eye Hospital and Philadelphia VAMC, working with Jefferson and UPenn ophthalmology, respectively. He then completed his postgraduate training in ocular disease in Wilmington, DE, at the Wilmington VAMC, working with Temple University ophthalmology.
Prior to joining the UW Eye Institute at Harborview, Dr. Dabundo practiced optometry in private practice in the Seattle area, providing comprehensive eye care to diverse patient populations.
