Clinical Ophthalmology

Advancing Clinical Ophthalmic Care Through Communication Science

Eye care has witnessed remarkable advances in diagnostics, imaging, surgical techniques, and therapeutics. Yet every stage of the patient journey depends on effective communication.

Communication influences how patients understand their condition, weigh treatment options, adhere to recommendations, navigate uncertainty, and participate in shared decision-making. It also shapes collaboration among ophthalmologists, optometrists, primary care providers, trainees, and multidisciplinary care teams. However, despite its central role in clinical practice, communication remains a relatively under-explored area of ophthalmic research. Indeed, the ability to communicate complex information effectively is an important dimension of care quality. Communication can influence patient expectations, trust, satisfaction, treatment adherence, implementation of emerging technologies, care coordination, and even clinical outcomes.

This Article Collection welcomes original research, systematic and scoping reviews, qualitative and mixed-methods investigations, implementation science, survey research, educational research, and evidence-based perspectives that examine communication within the context of eye care. Topics of interest include:

• Physician-patient communication
• Shared decision-making conversations
• Communication dimensions of health literacy
• Risk communication
• Counseling for surgery or chronic disease
• Peer-to-peer (clinician) communication
• Interdisciplinary and referral communication
• Caregiver communication
• Communication surrounding emerging technologies
• Medical education communication
• Implementation of evidence into practice communication (e.g., clinical guidelines and standard of care communication)
• Communication and the patient experience
• Other communication-focused investigations relevant to ophthalmic care

Contributions from ophthalmologists, optometrists, health communication researchers, behavioral scientists, medical educators, psychologists, and interdisciplinary research teams are encouraged, provided the work advances communication as a means of improving ophthalmic care.

Submission Instructions:

During submission (in step 2 "About paper"), you will see a question asking "Are you interested in submitting to an article collection?" Please select the radio dial for "Yes". Then select "Advancing Clinical Ophthalmic Care Through Communication Science" from the drop down menu.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo full peer review; Guest Advisors will not be handling submitted articles. Please review the journal’s aims and scope and author submission instructions prior to submission. Standard Article Publishing Charges apply.

Authors interested in the responsible use of AI should review Taylor & Francis's AI policies.

If you have any questions about this Article Collection, please contact Krista Thom at Krista.Thom@taylorandfrancis.com.

Guest Advisor:

Amy Hellem, Ph.D., is a health communication scientist and Executive Director of the National Keratoconus Foundation. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Marywood University, a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a doctorate degree from Chapman University, and a graduate certificate in Health Care Innovation from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She has taught organizational and medical communication courses at Chapman University and serves as the Clinical Education Strategist in Ophthalmology for Medscape/WebMD. She is also a doctoral dissertation committee member for the School of Nursing at Azusa Pacific University and a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. Amy was Editor-In-Chief of Review of Optometry for ten years and has published more than 200 articles and scientific papers, including a landmark report on standards of care in ophthalmology.

Disclosure Statement: Dr. Hellem is a current consultant for LKC Technologies.