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The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit restart

3 December 2020

After a six month break, The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit has restarted case ascertainment from November 2020, recommencing the yellow card reporting system with the five studies that were already running.

BOSU: Current Studies on the Yellow Card

Study Lead investigator
Hydroxychloroquine Retinopathy Imran Yusuf, Oxford
Unexplained visual loss following removal of silicone oil Jonathan Smith, Sunderland
Fungal Keratitis Moshan Malik, London
Chemical injuries Nicola Cronbach, Stoke Madeville
Retinal Dialysis Pallavi Tyagi, London

Full details of the study protocols and case definitions will can be found here.

The first yellow cards have been sent out on 30 November. If you do not receive a yellow card please contact barny.foot@rcophth.ac.uk to update the reporting list.

Introduction Of Digital Reporting

The BOSU has used the break in activities to examine our methods of case ascertainment and how researchers collect and manage their study data. We have started a collaboration with the University of Dundee and from the summer 2021 the BOSU will be switching to a digital reporting system that will take both the case reporting currently done through the yellow cards and the clinical questionnaires into an online format. This will provide a number of great benefits:

  • Simplifies the reporting process and reduces timelines through instant online questionnaires
  • Provides consistency for reporting ophthalmologists across studies
  • Ensures quality assured information governance within surveillance projects
  • Improved environmental and sustainability profile
  • Ability to introduce additional functionality to make the system more responsive to reporting ophthalmologists

The BOSU and the study researchers remain amazed by the fantastic support and high participation rates from UK ophthalmologists to support our research into rare eye diseases and we hope that you will all continue to return the yellow card for the next 6 months and continue with the same level of support for the new digital platform.