Utility of the Telemedicine Retinopathy of Prematurity Severity Score in a Tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness. ROP management needs multidisciplinary coordination and clear communication of disease severity. This study aims to evaluate the usability of the Telemedicine ROP Severity Score (tROP-SS) among nonophthalmologists. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) staff completed a questionnaire with terminology from the International Classification for ROP, Third Edition (ICROP3) or tROP-SS. Participants were assessed on ease of use, identification of progression or regression, and communication with families. Accuracy, number of clicks, and time per question were recorded. CONCLUSION: The tROP-SS enhances both accuracy and usability for NICU staff. By simplifying complex classification into a single score, tROP-SS supports multidisciplinary care.