Ophthalmic Education:

Education of Medical Students in Ophthalmology

On this page:

• Task Force defines Curriculum for medical student education
  
  
• ICO offers educational materials online
  
  
• Curriculum outlines desired knowledge and skills
  
  
• Designed for local adaptation
  
  
• Draft Curriculum Guidelines on Web site
  
  
• Principles for medical student education
  
  
• Ophthalmology should be part of the essential curriculum

Task Force defines Curriculum for medical student education in ophthalmology

An International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Task Force has defined "Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students," which can be downloaded as a PDF file (2.1 MB) from www.icoph.org/pdf/icocurricmed.pdf.

The Curriculum is also available on the ICO Web site, with links to relevant lectures and images that are also available and may be particularly useful to students who do not have ready access to printed materials.

ICO offers educational materials online

To supplement its Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students, the ICO offers educational resources for medical students that are referenced on its Web site.

The educational materials include:

• Selected clinical images from the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Ophthalmic Images v.3, donated to the ICO to support education of medical students
  
  
• a series of PowerPoint lectures for medical students contributed by Susan Lightman, FRCP, FRCOphth, PhD, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.

There are also other useful resources for teaching medical students available on the Web at no charge.

Curriculum outlines desired knowledge and skills

The ICO International Task Force on Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students obtained samples of curricula for medical students from differerent countries and surveyed ophthalmologic societies around the world to determine the minimum ophthalmic knowledge and clinical skills that graduating medical students should demonstrate.

The Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students describes essential knowledge and skills for all medical students, as well as basic level, standard level and advanced level knowledge and skills in 11 subspecialty areas. It cites relevant images, charts and illustrations from various sources, including images and lectures available on the ICO Web site.

Designed for local adaptation

The Curriculum reflects an international consensus, but is intended to be adapted as appropriate for use in different countries and cultures.

"The Task Force members understand that large regional variations in disease prevalence preclude the development of an inclusive curriculum for all medical students," the Curriulum says. "This document is intended to serve as a resource that will provide access to a wide range of important educational topics."

Principles for medical student education

The Task Force defined a number of principles that guided the development of the Curriculum, including the following:

1. The reduction of time allotted for ophthalmic education in medical school threatens to diminish the clinical skills of graduating physicians throughout the world and to adversely affect eye care.

2. An ophthalmic cognitive and clinical skill set should be defined for international medical educators.

Ophthalmology should be part of the essential curriculum

The ICO Task Force strongly recommends that "all medical schools include ophthalmology as a part of the essential curriculum and not exclusively as an elective." This position supports previously adopted ICO policy.

"The increasing age of the world population, high prevalence of common problems such as eye injury and red eye, and importance of vision in the information age support the need for the expansion of ophthalmic education," according to the Curriculum.

"To achieve this goal, the exact allotment of curriculum hours will depend on existing specific medical school infrastructure and general curriculum" the Curriculum says. "The Task Force strongly recommends that sufficient time in the classroom and clinical setting be dedicated to mastering the learning objectives and clinical skills labeled as 'Basic.' "

The Task Force estimates that the total educational commitment throughout medical school will require approximately 40-60 hours (or 5 to 8 days) exposure.

Next: "Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students"

Also see:

• Allied Ophthalmic Personnel Training
  
  
• Other ICO Educational Programs and Initiatives