PRIMARY EYE CARE

Preface

The World Sight Foundation, started in 2012 by a group of dedicated volunteers, has concentrated on improving the education of primary care eye workers in different parts of the world. This cadre of worker with widely different levels of skills performs a vital role, being the first from whom those most in need seek help. These courses are designed to fit the particular needs of the attendees in various countries.

So far, many hundreds have attended these courses which have been exceptionally well received.

We decided to produce an affordable ophthalmic guide, based and building on this teaching, to assist these primary care practitioners. Our objective is to help these professionals treat simple conditions with confidence and accuracy and also, through proper examination, to identify serious and potentially blinding eye disease.

We have included enough detail, in addition to basic knowledge, to appeal to the more experienced practitioner and we hope that by so doing we will encourage those with less experience to improve their standards. This will help them to become the architects of their own professional development-particularly to enhance their patient examination skills.

We hope this work will help primary care eye practitioners, wherever they may be, for the benefit of those they serve.

May 2021