By Julie Newport
Optometrist
ICU Optometrist – Bardon, Queensland

I’ve had the Smart Chart system in my practice now for about 6 months and I love it.

For me, the most valuable aspect is the programmable nature of the system. We all have our own rhythms with the order of vision tests we like to do for refraction.  I like to have certain letter sizes in a particular order for vision measurements for starters, then later, when refracting, a certain order of letter sizes, with cross-cyl dots chucked in at a particular point.  The fact that this system allows you to program your choice of charts, in the order you want, without having to spend too much time with combinations of buttons, has made refraction extremely streamlined for most patients.

It can however be a little clumsy with the more challenging refractions, especially for low-vision patients. Maybe I just don’t see these people often enough to have bothered with a program for them just yet, so this may be an unfair comment.  Without the program, to go from say cross-cyl dots to (eg) the 6/9.5 line takes at least 7 clicks, which with my previous projector might have only taken 2 or 3. 

The pictorial vision tests for children are easy to use, and the fact that you can put your own movies on the system – that’s just cool.  The system comes loaded with a cartoon of a hippo singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and I have to tell you, this does NOT get old!  No more kids looking all around the room during retinoscopy, and to have it playing while doing little workups like pupils, cover testing and kind of in the background while doing other “also-rans” like PDs and NPCs in amongst it all makes eye testing kind of fun for the kids.   I don’t know that I’ll be putting my trip to the snow on it any time soon, but it’s cool to know you CAN if you want to!

The Smart Chart has randomization of letters that you can turn on or off.  There are obvious advantages to randomisation, but after a few neck cramps I switched it off and memorized all the letters. Nice to know you can change them whenever you like to keep things interesting.

One word of warning – the system has the computer built-in so it takes a minute to boot up. Remember to switch it on when you arrive in the consulting room! This saves those embarrassing moments when you’re about to measure distance vision and end up asking about your patient’s holidays!