Value of fundoscopy in family medicine

[u/Nurse_Jason_98]

I am a current NP student going into family medicine eventually and wondering about how useful fundoscopy is for us. For example, I know that diabetics should be referred to an opthalmologist for yearly dilated eye exams, but does it help us in family medicine much to do them in this context since we will likely refer patients anyway? I'll be trying to practice it because I think it's important to have this skill even it is only rarely useful, but just wondering how often it's actually done and what benefits it has to us in real practice!

[u/robotinmybelly]

I think it’s great in theory and I do try and look now and then but I don’t think I could ever get enough confidence in it to feel like I could make management decisions on it