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Ophthalmology Resident Wins Great Catch Award

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Ophthalmology resident Johanna D. Beebe, MD was awarded the UIHC 2015 Great Catch Award, which honors care providers who identify potential threats and take action to prevent harm to patients.

Dr. Beebe was consulted from the Emergency Department in the late evening regarding a patient who had been working on a deck and had a "corneal tear". The resident was told that the patient simply needed outpatient follow-up because he was comfortable and his vision was otherwise adequate. Rather than just scheduling outpatient follow-up in the Eye Clinic the following week, Dr. Beebe asked the appropriate questions, and examined the patient further. The patient ended up having a full thickness corneal laceration, a traumatic cataract, and a small but significant intraocular metallic foreign body in his left eye. The patient was emergently brought to the operating room with the Retina team as a class A and within an hour, the patient had surgery to remove the intraocular foreign body. Had Dr. Beebe not pursued this patient further, the outcomes of this patient's surgery and clinical course would have been far worse than the course he had taken. Foreign bodies into the eye can lead to severe infection, blindness or loss of the eye. Due to Dr. Beebe's care, this patient will be able to preserve his eye and hopefully vision as well in the long-run.

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics celebrates Patient Safety Awareness Week in March by selecting a recipient of the previous year's Good Catch award winners to receive a Great Catch award. The winner of the annual Great Catch award will be given the opportunity to attend the National Patient Safety Congress in Austin, Texas in May, all expenses paid. 

Story Source: UI Health Care Marketing and Communications, 200 Hawkins Drive, Room W319 GH, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1009