Resources

The Barcelona Principles were developed by the Global Alliance of Eye Bank Associations (Lead), in conjunction with the International Council of Ophthalmology, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, The Cornea Society, and in regions without eye bank representation, and in regions without an eye bank association, ophthalmology societies such as the Ophthalmology Society of the West Indies, and the Pacific Eye Care Society. They provide guidance to Custodians, and those requiring human tissue for ocular surgery, training and future technologies.

Download the Barcelona Principles.

The International Council of Ophthalmology advocates for and encourages comprehensive team training as an essential strategy to achieve Universal Eye Health.

There is evidence that patients receive higher quality care and are safer when services are provided by effective teams. Training as a team promotes better communication, coordination, and cooperation.

Transitioning from traditional clinical, institutionally-based training for ophthalmologists to a wider team-based training approach will both optimize performance and contribute to accessible, affordable, comprehensive eye care for the betterment of our patients and communities.

Endorsed:

• Board of Directors, International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO)
• Board of Directors, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)
• Board of Directors, International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO)
• Board of Directors, Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO)

Read the ICO Position on Training Teams

The ICO Ophthalmology Surgical Competency Assessment Rubric (ICO-OSCAR) is a standardized, internationally-valid tool to teach and assess an ophthalmologist’s competence in performing surgery. This behavioral and skill-based rubric for evaluators, allows the evaluator to use the ICO-OSCAR to objectively assess the resident’s competence in performing a specific procedure. It also gives the resident a tool to better gauge their own performance.  

The ICO currently offers ICO-OSCAR's for Extracapsular Cataract Extraction, Phacoemulsification, Pediatric Cataract Surgery, Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SICS), Strabismus, Lateral Tarsal Strip Surgery, Trabeculectomy, and Vitrectomy in English. Selected ICO-OSCAR's are available in Mandarin Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Aravind Eye Care System in southern India generates 250 grams of waste per phacoemulsification and nearly 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalents in greenhouse gases. This is approximately 5% of the United Kingdom's phaco carbon footprint with comparable outcomes. A majority of Aravind's lifecycle environmental emissions occur in the sterilization process of reusable instruments because their surgical system uses largely reusable instruments and materials. Electricity use in the operating room and the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) accounts for 10% to 25% of most environmental emissions.

Read more about the papers conclusions and download a full PDF.

the ICO, the International Diabetes Federation, the World Council of Optometry, and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness released a Global Statement on Diabetes and Eye Heath calling for urgent action from governments, medical associations, service providers, and patient organizations to:

1. Integrate eye health within routine diabetes care by primary health care providers
2. Improve collaboration across the diabetes and eye health sectors
3. Foster and support patient-centered care approaches for diabetic eye health.

This is a simple and cost effective technique require minimal resources and provide same results.

Access the resource.

The online Graduate Certificate offers a comprehensive understanding of the sector and advanced knowledge of donor and process management, whilst the nested Specialist Certificate focuses on the introduction and foundation of eye banking.

Robin Stevenson and Eugene Pozniak lay out the steps European societies need to take to improve CME to address a number of healthcare challenges. The paper also cites the ICO's position paper on CPD and our ebook for effective CPD/CME. 

Read the full editorial in the Journal of European CME

Bioline International is a not-for-profit scholarly publishing cooperative committed to providing open access to quality research journals published in developing countries. BI's goal of reducing the South to North knowledge gap is crucial to a global understanding of health (tropical medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology, emerging new diseases), biodiversity, the environment, conservation and international development. By providing a platform for the distribution of peer-reviewed journals (currently from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda and Venezuela), BI helps to reduce the global knowledge divide by making bioscience information generated in these countries available to the international research community world-wide.

The National Guidelines is designed for administrators, nurses and operating theatre technicians working within hospitals, day surgeries and clinics, who are involved in handling human tissue for ocular surgeries. The guidelines have been developed in conjunction with RANZCO, ophthalmic, day surgery and operating room nursing associations. While Australian in origin, The Guidelines can be adapted to suit any country and surgical service provider.