Ophthalmology@Point of Care: A New Journal for Hands-on Clinicians

Throughout recent decades, an exponential development of new technologies has revolutionized the way clinicians and other health care practitioners detect and treat diseases. The spread of these new technologies enables novel ways of delivering treatment, monitoring compliance, and measuring outcomes. Due to the continuous introduction of these new technologies in clinical practice, and the increasing complexity of the patients, clinical guidelines are often only partially applicable in clinics. Furthermore, our patients are fairly mirrored by published randomized controlled trials, and many questions remain unanswered, which still need to be addressed by future ad hoc studies. There are many factors that may affect the response of the individual patient to the treatment (e.g., genetic, environmental, nutritional, and behavioral). Often, the simple application of guidelines is not enough in patient care and the application of a more personalized approach is becoming increasingly necessary.

Ophthalmology @ Point of Care (O@PoC) aims to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice as implemented in different regions of the world. This Open Access journal is designed with a specific focus on the effectiveness in real-world applications of interventions in ophthalmology, and offers to authors and readers specific formats for reviews and research reports, as well as innovative formats, such as Questions @ Point of Care.

The journal also covers the impact of new technologies on patient care, with a specific article format (Technology @ Point of Care) and new diagnostic/therapeutic algorithms and medical apps in their broadest sense, with the ultimate aim of helping ophthalmologists improve patient care.

The journal includes four different formats: Questions @ Point of Care, Technology @ Point of Care, Research @ Point of Care, and Patients @ Point of Care. Questions @ Point of Care articles illustrate the reasoning behind diagnostic and therapeutic decisions at the patient's bedside. Technology @ Point of Care and Research @ Point of Care articles evaluate how the introduction of point-of-care tools may change the management of patients from both a clinical and a health economics perspective. Finally, Patients @ Point of Care articles describe patient case series and reports where the point-of-care approach has been significantly influenced by genetic, nutritional, behavioral, or other factors influencing patient outcomes.

O@PoC complements other journals in the field of ophthalmology with a practical approach to translational medicine. It provides a useful place where cogent, unmet clinical needs, and different views can be compared, and it brings the opportunity to talk about future perspectives in the field of ophthalmology. This concept of “open dialogue” is reflected by the format and structure of the journal, and by the composition of the Editorial Board. It mixes expert ophthalmologists from different geographical regions who have participated in the creation of clinical practice guidelines in recent years, and expert young ophthalmologists who are bringing innovations in the treatment approach by taking advantage of the latest developments in mobile technology, clinical support tools, and social networks.

Based on this framework, the aim and scope of O@PoC will be to publish reviews, editorials, points of view, original research articles, and case series and reports that will:

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  close the gap between research and real-world experience by offering a forum to discuss those gaps and the best way to overcome them;

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  identify how the introduction of new technologies in clinical practice are leading to a significant evolution of diagnostic and more personalized therapeutic approaches;

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  describe patient case series and reports where the point-of-care approach has been significantly influenced by one or more of the factors described above;

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  analyze how the introduction of point-of-care and clinical support tools is changing the management of patients from clinical and health economics perspectives;

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  evaluate how novel methods of communication to patients, broadly described by the term “narrative medicine,” may contribute to a better patient outcome.

O@PoC entered the series of journals designed by Wichtig Publishing and aims to continue the purpose of other journals by becoming a reference for hands-on ophthalmologists.