The activity of the Clinic of Ophthalmology as the subunit of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania (Vytautas Magnus University) during 1922–1938

The aim of the study was to evaluate the activity and the validity of the expansion of the Clinic of Ophthalmology of the University of Lithuania (since 1930 – Vytautas Magnus University) operating in Kaunas city between 1922 and 1938. The evaluation was based on the analysis of changes in inpatient and outpatient flow, the structure of cases of inpatient treatment, and the usage of beds. In the analysis, we used annual reports of the Clinic of Ophthalmology as well as data presented in statistical publications of the Department of Health for the studied period. The changes in the indices of the activity of the Clinic were evaluated using the logarithmic regression coefficient. A more rapid increase in the number of patients discharged from the Clinic of Ophthalmology was observed during 1922–1930 (on the average, by 9% per year). During 1931–1938, only the number of discharged men was increasing. During the studied period, the majority of the cases of inpatient treatment were lenticular diseases (19%), trachoma (16%), and corneal diseases (16%). During 1922–1930, the sharpest increase was observed in the number of inpatients with eyeball diseases and eye traumas (on the average, by 12.3% per year) and during 1931–1938, in the number of patients with trachoma (on the average, by 6.7% per year). The analysis of the indices of the activity of the inpatient unit confirmed the need for the expansion of the Clinic during 1922–1930, but revealed that the expansion of the material basis of the Clinic up to 50 beds during 1931–1938 was not efficient. In the outpatient unit of the Clinic of Ophthalmology, the number of visits per year and the number of admitted patients per year during the studied period increased by 2.5 and 3.5 times, respectively.