Ophthalmology clinic software: from visual acuity to the spectacle prescription the patient takes away
Ophthalmology clinic software must do what a general clinic program does badly: keep the two eyes apart, finding by finding, and turn the refraction into a prescription an optician can read without phoning you. This guide covers the record, one examination in OPALEVI, the printed spectacle prescription and the questions to ask before choosing.
Key takeaways
- Each finding belongs to one eye: acuity, refraction, pressure and every structure examined, recorded per eye, never in a shared sentence.
- Print the glasses prescription from the refraction itself, so the paper and the record cannot disagree.
- Intraocular pressure is read as a series: each eye's readings drawn across visits, their meaning left to the ophthalmologist.
- Ask what a program does not do. Contact lenses, instrument import and biometry are where eye clinic programs differ most.
When paper cards and a general program stop being enough
Most eye practices start with a card per patient and a pad of prescription forms. It works until a second doctor joins, a technician measures before the doctor, or a patient with raised pressure keeps coming back for years. The signs are familiar:
- A refraction copied twice, onto the card and then onto the form, where a −0.50 can lose its sign.
- Pressures on separate pages, so a slow rise in one eye shows only if someone leafs back.
- One text box for the whole eye, where right and left share sentences and nothing can be charted.
- Acuity without its notation: a bare 0.5 may be decimal or logMAR, which are two different lines.
- An optician on the phone, because the prescription left without the pupillary distance, the lens type or a date.
In an eye clinic, a finding written without its eye is half a finding. The software should make the eye part of the field, not a word someone remembers to type.
What an ophthalmic examination record has to hold
Agree on this first; it applies to paper as much as to software.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Visual acuity per eye, uncorrected and corrected | The first number of every visit, in a notation nobody can confuse. |
| Refraction per eye: sphere, cylinder, axis, near addition | The basis of any glasses prescription, signs and units included. |
| Intraocular pressure per eye | Read as a series, so each reading needs its date and its eye. |
| Pupils, motility and alignment | Light and dark sizes, reactions and the cover test show what refraction cannot. |
| Slit lamp and fundus, structure by structure | Which structure was abnormal, normal or not examined, for each eye. |
| Cup-to-disc ratio | A number the next visit can compare, not a phrase such as “healthy disc”. |
| Drawings | Where a finding sits on the lid, the anterior segment or the retina. |
| Spectacle prescription | Both corrections, pupillary distance, lens type and date: what the optician needs. |
| Medicines and referrals | The drops the patient takes home, and the letter when they go elsewhere. |
Not examined is a finding too
A blank box is ambiguous: normal, or never looked at? Record “not examined” on purpose, so the next reader knows which.
One eye examination in OPALEVI, step by step
A routine examination in OPALEVI's ophthalmology department, with the screen's labels in bold. The Ophthalmic examination sits on two tabs, Ophthalmology report and Spectacle prescription, and has no vital-signs strip.
Book and remind
Reception uses Add appointment and ticks Email the patient a reminder the day before; a patient with an email address on file receives it.
Note the complaint
Doctor's report runs from Complaints to Diagnoses, Advice and Check-ups, each with saved phrases such as blurred vision or floaters.
Record acuity
Uncorrected visual acuity (decimal) and Corrected visual acuity (decimal) take one number per eye, 0 to 2.5. A Snellen 6/12 is typed as 0.5.
Refraction and pressure
The Refraction grid holds sphere, cylinder, axis and Near addition per eye, each row with its unit and limits; the axis takes whole degrees, 0 to 180. Intraocular pressure is in mmHg.
Pupils and motility
Pupil size in light and dark, Pupil reaction, Relative afferent pupillary defect (RAPD), Ocular motility in nine gaze positions, and Alignment in primary gaze from the cover test.
Slit lamp and fundus
Slit-lamp examination marks each structure Normal, Abnormal or Not examined; Fundoscopy adds No view. Macular findings takes several findings per eye, and Cup-to-disc ratio the vertical value in 0.05 steps. A written note after the slit-lamp grid, and another after the fundus grids, says what was seen.
Close the visit
Write the diagnosis, add drops under Prescription with the route In the eye, fill in the Referral letter if needed, then open the second tab.
Every section names who wrote it and when, in amber when that was not the visit's clinician, and Change history keeps a before-and-after of every change.
The spectacle prescription, from the refraction to the optician
Opticians make glasses from this sheet, so OPALEVI builds it from the record rather than retyping it.
- Distance is the refraction. The tab reads the report tab's refraction grid, and says so: “The distance values are the refraction of the report tab.”
- An axis chart per eye. Two TABO protractors, OD and OS, draw the axes. Click or drag to set one; The chart sets the axis of switches between Distance and Near.
- Near on request. Type it, or press Fill near from distance + addition: the near addition is added to the distance sphere, and cylinder and axis carry over, for each eye with a distance sphere. Nothing changes until you press it.
- The optician's details. Interpupillary distance, Interpupillary distance, near, Lens type (distance, reading, bifocal, progressive), Date prescribed and Notes for the optician.
Save and print saves the visit and opens the sheet; once nothing is left unsaved, the button reads Print spectacle prescription, like the one in the visit header. The page carries your letterhead, the patient's name, code and date of birth, both axis charts (distance solid, near dashed) and a table each for distance and near. Dioptres print signed with two decimals (+0.75, −0.50), axes in three digits (090), empty boxes as four dashes, never as zero. Lens type, near addition, notes and a signature line close the page.
Two limits. OPALEVI writes no contact-lens prescriptions, which need values this record does not hold, such as base curve and diameter. And the sheet goes with the patient; OPALEVI does not send it to an optician.
Read the chart before you print
The chart draws exactly what is in the box. A 9 typed for 90 lies almost flat, which is easier to spot as a line than as a digit.
Pressure over time, drawings and attached files
Intraocular pressure across visits
Pressure over time holds the chart Intraocular pressure across visits: one line per eye from the patient's earlier visits in the department, never averaged, from the second measurement on. A visit without a reading breaks the line, and the chart also prints on the report. OPALEVI draws; the ophthalmologist interprets.
Drawings
The Eye figure offers four views, each eye from the front and each fundus, for pins with a written finding. Eyelids does the same for a lid, canthus or lash line.
Instruments and photographs
OPALEVI reads nothing from autorefractors, tonometers, OCT or perimeters. Their printouts and exports go under Visit documents (images, PDF, DICOM, up to 10 MB each), and photographs offer Compare with the last visit. Lesion photography is covered in dermatology and aesthetic clinic software.
Reception, payments, glasses and referrals around the examination
- The desk. Reception books, reminds and collects the fee; what was billed, paid and still owed sits on the visit beside Print receipt. The desk's whole day is in clinic reception software.
- Technicians who measure first. A nurse prepares a visit but, by default, does not write the examination. If technicians take acuity and pressure, tick Write the clinical record for their role; their names then show on what they wrote.
- Children. A child's motility, alignment and acuity go in the same fields; growth and vaccinations are covered in paediatric clinic software.
- Referrals. Where the practice runs more than one department, Refer to a department lands on the worklist of the department you choose; Print referral letter is for a colleague outside, with the visit's diagnosis and therapy added.
- Glasses you supply. With an ophthalmology department, each patient file gets a Devices tab: type, model, Serial number, warranty, price and repairs. It is a register only; it raises no invoice and moves no stock.
- Privacy. Record privacy is set per department on Department setup. Left on Automatic, ophthalmology records are open to the whole clinic; narrow them to Only the clinician or, with several departments, to The department.
- Follow-up. Book a follow-up appointment and Create follow-up task sit on the visit itself.
Questions to ask before choosing ophthalmology clinic software
Ask every candidate the same questions, OPALEVI too, and check the answers against a week of your own examinations.
| Question | A good answer | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Are findings kept per eye? | Separate right and left values everywhere. | Yes, in every grid. |
| Is the acuity notation clear? | One stated notation, or a visible choice. | Partly: decimal only; no logMAR or near-acuity field. |
| Does the prescription come from the refraction? | One source for record and paper. | Yes. |
| Optician-ready printout? | Both corrections, pupillary distances, lens type, date, signature. | Yes, with signed dioptres and three-digit axes. |
| Contact-lens prescriptions? | Base curve, diameter and lens per eye. | No. |
| Pressure across visits? | Each eye its own line, with gaps left as gaps. | Yes, from the second reading. |
| Tonometry method and corneal thickness? | Fields for how, when and, if measured, thickness. | No: use the examination note. |
| Import from instruments? | Autorefractor, tonometer or OCT results without retyping. | No: attach their files. |
| Cataract planning? | Biometry and lens power, if you operate. | No. |
| A register of glasses supplied? | Model, serial number, warranty, repairs. | Partly: the Devices tab, apart from invoices and stock. |
| Appointment reminders? | Ones the patient agreed to. | Yes: an email the day before, with an address on file. |
| Will the price stay predictable? | Counted by something you control. | Per staff member; examinations are not counted. |
Shared clinic tools are on the features page; a general checklist is in how to choose clinic software.
Before your first patient: setting up the eye clinic
Register as a private practice, or a clinic with several departments, and tick Ophthalmology. First steps on the Today screen lists what is left:
Prices
The department starts with an eye examination and a pressure measurement at placeholder prices; replace them from Add your services and prices.
Letterhead
Set up the report letterhead; the visit report, both prescriptions and the referral letter print under it.
Team
Invite your colleagues with their own accounts and roles, and decide who writes the record.
A test sheet
Refract a colleague and print a Spectacle prescription before day one.
Show the first sheet to an optician
Ask the optician your patients use most whether anything is missing. That answer beats any demonstration.
Frequently asked questions
What is ophthalmology clinic software?
A program holding an eye clinic's examinations, bookings and payments together. A good one records acuity, refraction, pressure and each structure per eye, charts pressure over visits, and prints the glasses prescription straight from the refraction, so the optician gets exactly what was measured.
Does OPALEVI print a spectacle prescription?
Yes. The Spectacle prescription tab takes its distance values from the visit's refraction; you add the near correction, pupillary distances, lens type and notes, then print one page with axis charts, signed dioptres and your letterhead. Contact-lens prescriptions are not supported.
Can a technician enter acuity and pressure before the doctor?
Yes, once the clinic allows it. By default nurses prepare visits but do not write the clinical record. Tick Write the clinical record for the role your technicians hold, and each section will then name who wrote it and when.
Can I use it on a tablet in the examination room?
Yes. It needs only a browser, on a tablet, phone or computer, and nothing installed; on a smaller screen the menu moves to a bar along the bottom. A doctor can open the day's list or a patient's pressure chart on a tablet between two rooms.
Can we test it on real patients first?
Yes: registration opens a free trial without a card. Spend it on a real week: book patients, record examinations and print a spectacle prescription for an optician to check. If you decide not to subscribe, you pay nothing; the account turns read-only, with every examination still there.
How is OPALEVI priced for an eye clinic?
By the number of staff members who use it, with a lower monthly rate on the yearly plan. Patients, examinations and departments are never counted. Current prices and a calculator for your team are on the pricing page.
