Lessons Learned from a Community–Academic Project Using Telemedicine for Eye Screening Among Urban Latinos

CONCLUSIONS: The project highlighted considerations for working with Latino communities, demonstrated the importance of community partners to conduct effective community-engaged research, and explored effectiveness of a unique partnership that relied on clinical expertise and nonclinical community-engaged research expertise. Findings illuminate effort required to implement clinical telemedicine interventions in community settings. BACKGROUND: Diabetes prevalence is increasing rapidly and disproportionately affects Latinos, who face greater risk for complications such as diabetic neuropathy. OBJECTIVES: This project partnered a Latino community center with clinical and community-engaged researchers to test the feasibility of telemedicine to provide retinal screenings to urban Latinos. Further, researchers aimed to understand cultural implications of using telemedicine with this population. METHODS: Pre- and post-study focus groups identified study participants' perceptions of screening process. RESULTS: The research team concluded that telemedicine is feasible for providing early detection and care to urban Latino populations, and identified processes for conducting clinical trials within community settings.