From the American Society of Ophthalmic Trauma
A guide for emergency, inpatient surgical, and hospitalist collaborative teams.
Jointly caring for ophthalmic patients.
Start from the presentation. A stepwise decision tree takes you from symptom and mechanism to focused exam, urgency tier, and when to call ophthalmology — built for teams without in-house eye coverage.
Open the first pathway: the polytrauma patient →Go straight to condition-specific guidance — first moves, what to avoid, imaging, and disposition — from lateral canthotomy for retrobulbar hemorrhage to open globe precautions.
Browse diagnoses →Four steps before any consult. Two minutes of structured assessment gives the ophthalmologist what they need to help you from anywhere.
Mechanism, timing, laterality, prior ocular surgery or vision baseline, anticoagulation, and the systemic context the consultant will ask about first.
Vision, pressure, pupils — recorded and handed off like any other vital sign.
Each eye separately, with correction if available. Use the online near card at bedside.
Video + near cardTonopen technique and recalibration.Do not check if open globe is suspected.
VideoSize, reactivity, and how to check for a relative afferent pupillary defect.
VideoA labeled reference so your exam findings translate — lids, globe, anterior chamber, and orbit, each with an illustration.
External photos and the right CT protocol can make a remote consult decisive. What to capture and how to share it.
Filter by the team you're on. Each entry opens first moves, cautions, and consult triggers.
Starter list from clinical consult patterns; entries will be added, split, or cut with input from emergency, trauma, and hospital medicine teams. Each page is authored by an ASOT student member and reviewed before publication.