Innovative Ideas Register

A Fast System for Reporting the FM 100-Hue Colour Vision Test

Development of the Initiative

The FM 100-hue test was originally conceived as a test for congenital colour abnormalities. Today it is recognised as one of the most useful clinical tests in ophthalmology for diagnosing early stages of acquired colour vision defects in optic nerve disease, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. However, a major disadvantage of the test is the laborious and time-consuming effort needed to calculate the results and to plot them out on a chart for interpretation.

The test requires the patient to arrange 85 coloured caps so that their hue changes progressively through the colours of the spectrum.

Once the patient has finished arranging the caps, the operator turns the caps over, records the numbers on the back of the caps and then calculates the error score for each individual cap.

These individual errors are then plotted on a polar graph. Until recently, reporting the FM hue-100 test in Christchurch Hospital was done manually; however, it was obvious to us that a more automated method was urgently needed to save time.

We have speeded up and simplified the reporting of the test. We now record the order of the caps by scanning them with a bar code scanner and input this data directly into a computer.

The same computer then calculates the error score of each cap and plots them onto a single sheet of A4 paper so they can be interpreted by an ophthalmologist.

In addition, the computer sums the individual error scores to give the total error for that eye.

Results

Our new system has now been in routine use in eye clinics at Christchurch Hospital for more than a year and has proved to be of great assistance both in saving time and eliminating arithmetic errors in the scoring calculations.

The new system produces two reports, one for each eye, in four minutes. This compares with the 60 minutes required by the conventional manual reporting system. In addition, the computer-generated reports are almost identical to the conventional reports that the clinicians are familiar with. These are major advantages and mean our system has a marketable value.

The CDHB has recognised our achievements. On 28 August 2003 our Ophthalmology team was named as the Supreme Award Winner for our FM project at the CDHB Quality & Innovation Awards 2003 inaugural ceremony (published in the New Zealand Health & Hospital July-August 2003, page 4).

Primary Contact

Dr Rudy Hidajat
Ophthalmology Dept
Christchurch Hospital
Private Bag 4710
CHRISTCHURCH

Tel. (03) 364 0640 ext. 89314
email: rudy.hidajat@cdhb.govt.nz