The Department of Ophthalmology at Queen’s University & Kingston Health Sciences Centre (Hotel Dieu Hospital Site) is constantly striving to make our clinical program and facilities among the best in the country. We are a medium sized department, but maintaining a sizeable throughput. Our 19 staff, 2 locums, 3 fellows, and 12–13 residents see in excess of 82,000 patients a year within our clinic. 

In 2016 we implemented a high efficiency cataract surgical suite, designed and built to improve the cataract surgery throughput, reduce costs, and increase QBPs allotted to our hospital, while maintaining the quality of our surgical teaching. The throughput was increased by 66% with no adverse impact on patient safety, while increasing patient satisfaction through the reduction of wait times.

Additionally, with one of the largest medical retina clinics in the country, we have implemented a dedicated intravitreal injection facility. This facility optimizes patient flow and healthcare provider productivity, and is capable of treating in excess of 160 patients in a day.

Another initiative that we are currently developing, in partnership with a team of engineers at the University of Miami, is a drone slit lamp.  Our catchment area is vast, and we also care for patients in the remote Northern Ontario community of Moose Factory. This device is essentially a remote controlled slit lamp that will use the Ontario telemedicine framework to provide remote eye care in regions where specialists are not able to effectively service. 

We have also pioneering a vision enhancement program for patients with low vision. It is unique in several aspects and serves as a model to the rest of the country for delivering this type of care.  It is the first ophthalmology-led clinic with both CNIB rehab and occupational therapy presence.  It also boasts the first iPad course to explore the inherent technology features for operating a tablet with all of the vision rehabilitation features.