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ICO Leader Letter

September 2009, Volume 6, Number 9

1. Ophthalmology is Critical To Training Medical Students

Almost every medical school regardless of location has diminishing emphasis on ophthalmology and for many it is only an elective. This is a serious problem, both from the point of view of diagnosis and treatment of eye problems and of encouraging the best medical students to become ophthalmologists.

Both in developing and developed countries, we have or are going to have a shortage of trained ophthalmologists and as the shortage grows, primary care physicians will need to handle more ophthalmic cases.

The ICO asserts that ophthalmology should be an integral part of medical student education with the ICO Resolution on Ophthalmology Curriculum for Medical Student Education and the subsequent establishment of the ICO Task Force on Undergraduate Medical Education.

In this month's ICO Leader Letter, we feature the work of this Task Force and helpful resources for medical student education. I invite you to contribute to teaching medical students and adapt these resources for your own use.

- Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. Task Force Focuses on Application of Curriculum

The ICO Task Force on Undergraduate Medical Education developed a curriculum for teaching medical students (archive.icoph.org/pdf/icocurricmed.pdf, PDF - 2 MB). Now they are focused on how the curriculum can be implemented to improve teaching of medical students worldwide, including a medical student handbook and pilot teaching projects in London, Hanoi, Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere.

The Handbook for Medical Students Learning Ophthalmology is a practical tool developed by this task force (see story #3 below). Building on its success, they would like to create a new booklet focusing on eye problems due to accidents and emergencies. They are also planning to address the many requests for information on medical student electives by creating a directory of worldwide course opportunities.

- Mark Tso, MD, DSc, ICO Director for Education

3. ICO Medical Student Handbook Now in Six Languages

Now in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish, the ICO Handbook for Medical Students Learning Ophthalmology is an illustrated guide of common ophthalmic conditions, including color photos. Based on the curriculum developed under the leadership of previous Task Force Chair Richard Parrish, MD, the Handbook is a practical way for medical students to keep track of ophthalmology cases they may encounter.

The Handbooks are available for download on the ICO Web site: icoph.org/ed/icomed.html#handbook.

Professor McCluskey and I originally developed the ICO Handbook in 2004. Since then, it has been used in Australia, Vietnam and China, and we'd like to know if it has been or would be helpful in other parts of the world.

We also welcome other translations and adaptations. If you would like to share feedback or report another translation of the Handbook, please e-mail us: medical@icoph.org.

- Susan Lightman, FRCOphth, ICO Task Force on Undergraduate Medical Education Co-Chair

4. More Resources for Medical Student Education

In addition to the Handbook, here are additional resources for medical student education. Please share them with anyone who may find them to be helpful.

ICO Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students: icoph.org/pdf/icocurricmed.pdf/

Images from the ICO Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students: icoph.org/med/resources.html#images

Susan Lightman's PowerPoint lectures for medical students: icoph.org/med/resources.html#lightman

Other resources for teaching medical students are available on the Web at no cost:

Case Studies for Medical Students: ophthalmology.wustl.edu/education/case_studies/medical_students/index.html

Atlas of Ophthalmology: www.atlasophthalmology.com/, an online multimedia database

Eye Pathologist: www.eyepathologist.org/, a Web site focused on the anatomy and pathology of the eye

Would you like to suggest other resources for medical student education? If so, please send them to medical@icoph.org.

- Peter McCluskey, MD, ICO Task Force on Undergraduate Medical Education Co-Chair

5. Progress in the Fight Against Trachoma

Significant progress in the fight against Trachoma is shown in a recent WHO report, Trachoma: Global Magnitude of a Preventable Cause of Blindness, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Now 40.6 million people are estimated to be suffering from active trachoma, down from an estimated 84 million in 2003. Success in implementing the SAFE control strategy, more accurate data, and socio-economic development are among the reasons for the improvement. The full article is available at: bjo.bmj.com/content/93/5/563.full.

The Alliance for the Global Elimination of Blinding Trachoma by the year 2020 (GET 2020), met recently in Geneva and to track progress and plan for the future. GET 2020 is a group of organizations that support and collaborate with WHO to eliminate Trachoma by 2020.

The group reviewed the progress and plans of some 45 countries with endemic Trachoma including three countries - Ghana, Morocco and Oman - whose recent campaigns now seem to have successfully eliminated Trachoma. The ICO Bahrain Declaration on Trachoma and Trichiasis Surgery was also adopted at the meeting.

The ICO Declaration, archive.icoph.org/pdf/icotrichiasis.pdf (PDF - 644 KB), reaffirms the importance of trichiasis surgery to treat Trachoma.

Also available is the ICO International Clinical Guideline on Trachoma: archive.icoph.org/pdf/ICOTrachoma.pdf (100 KB).

Trachoma is still the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, but we are making progress in the fight against it.

- Hugh Taylor, AC, MD, ICO Treasurer

6. ICO International Fellowships - More Than 350 to Date

Since the year 2000, the ICO has supported more than 350 Fellows. The deadline to apply for the next round of ICO International Fellowships is October 31, 2009. The three-month ICO Fellowships are intended to help promising young ophthalmologists from developing nations improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology.

We have posted a recently revised introduction to the Fellowships, instructions and application forms at archive.icoph.org/fellow/index.html#newfellow. I would appreciate it if you would share this information with your colleagues and societies.

The Fellowships Committee is considering offering a Sandwich Fellowship - two, three-month fellowships separated by a visit to the home institution by the Fellowship host. There have been two extensions of three months each in Kiel and Regensburg, sponsored by Retinologische Gesellschaft, which have served as tests for the possible new program.

- Veit-Peter Gabel, MD, ICO Director of Fellowships

7. Next ICO Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC)

• ICO Board of Trustees: October 23, 2009, San Francisco
• ICO General Assembly: June 5, 2010, Berlin
• World Ophthalmology Congress®: June 5-9, 2010, Berlin (www.woc2010.de)
• Other future ICO Meetings: archive.icoph.org/lead/icomeet.html.

More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO’s Web site at www.icoph.org.

Request for Other News and Resources

Do you have other news of international ophthalmology or know resources (particularly on the Web) that would be valuable to ophthalmologic leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org.

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