Ophthalmic Education:

More Resources for Enhancing Training To Meet Public Needs for Eye Care

On this page:

• ICO Basic and Clinical Assessments used in residencies
  
  
• IFOS/ICO Fellowships offer extra training
  
  
• ICO International Clinical Guidelines
  
  
• Other clinical guidelines available
  
  
• American Academy defines "Clinically Relevant Curriculum"
  
  
• 2008 World Ophthalmology Congress in Hong Kong
  
  
• ICO endorses Atlas of Ophthalmology on the Web
  
  
• Ophthalmology should be in the essential curriculum for medical students
  
  
• Case studies for medical students available free online

Also see:

• Other Resources for Improving Training
  
  
• ICO Asks IFOS Members To Enhance Training

ICO Basic and Clinical Assessments used in residencies

Early in April each year, the ICO offers examinations throughout the world to help ophthalmologists evaluate and demonstrate their knowledge in the basic and clinical sciences related to ophthalmology.

Coordinated by Peter Watson, FRCS, FRCOphth, the ICO International Basic Science Assessment in Ophthalmology and Clinical Sciences Assessment are broadly accepted and used in a variety of ways by national societies and residency programs.

Turkey, Belgium and an increasing number of other countries are now using the ICO Assessments as part of their national certifying exams.

More than 12,000 ophthalmologists have taken the ICO International Assessments since 1995, including 1537 who sat for the Assessments in 2006 at 92 test centers in 61 countries around the world.

The next Assessments will be on April 12, 2007, and the deadline for application is January 31.For more, see www.icoph.org/assess.

IFOS/ICO Fellowships offer extra training

IFOS/ICO Fellowships were organized to help promising young ophthalmologists, especially those from developing nations, improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology.

The Fellowships generally last three months, and Fellows are expected to bring the acquired knowledge and skills back to their country of origin and take part in programs to preserve and restore vision.

Fellowships are now available from more than 60 ophthalmology departments and other institutions in 27 countries. They have been awarded to 198 ophthalmologists from 58 countries since the program was started in 2001.

Fellowships are awarded twice a year, and March 31 and September 30 are the deadlines to apply. For more, see www.icoph.org/fellow.

ICO International Clinical Guidelines

The ICO offers 20 International Clinical Guidelines designed to be translated and adapted by ophthalmologic societies and used in both training and practice.

Download the complete set of 20 from www.icoph.org/pdf/ICOClinicalGuidlines.pdf (348 KB).

To download individual Guidelines, see www.icoph.org/guide/guidelist.html.

Ten of the ICO Guidelines were translated into Chinese as a basis for the definition of Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Chinese Ophthalmological Society (COS). The COS Guidelines are now being disseminated to major hospital teaching centers and regional centers.

Gullapalli (Nag) Rao, MD, is organizing a similar guideline definition process in India, starting in 2007, and other societies are encouraged to adapt the ICO Clinical Guidelines for use in their own countries.

The Guidelines Committee also welcomes submission of approved clinical guidelines from national and international societies for possible posting on the ICO Web site. Please send them to guidelines@icoph.org.

Other clinical guidelines available

Among other ophthalmology clinical guidelines available online are:

• Asia Pacific Glaucoma Guidelines (www.seagig.org/apgg.php) defined by the South East Asia Glaucoma Interest Group (SEAGIG)
  
  
• "Terminology and Guidelines for Glaucoma" from the European Glaucoma Society, which are available from www.eugs.org/ebook.asp
  
  
• Guidelines on cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery, diabetic retinopathy and other subjects from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (www.rcophth.ac.uk/scientific/publications at the bottom of the page).

American Academy defines "Clinically Relevant Curriculum"

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has spent more than three years defining a “Clinically Relevant Curriculum for Ophthalmologists." The Curriculum is divided into subspecialty and practice emphasis areas, with more than 800 topics.

The American Academy offers international societies and other groups an opportunity to partner with the AAO to customize material for educational use, understanding that modifications may be needed to adapt the material to different clinical and cultural settings.

For more information, see www.aao.org/news/release/20051220.cfm or contact Academy Vice President for Global Alliances Jane Aguirre at jaguirre@aao.org.

2008 World Ophthalmology Congress in Hong Kong

Another important resource for training and continuing education is the ICO-sponsored World Ophthalmology Congress. The next Congress, also the XXXI International Congress of Ophthalmology, will be June 28 – July 2, 2008 in Hong Kong.

Registration and abstract submission will open in December. For more, see www.woc2008hongkong.org.

ICO endorses Atlas of Ophthalmology on the Web

The ICO has endorsed the Atlas of Ophthalmology, an online multimedia database edited by Robert Machemer, MD (Durham, USA) and Georg Michelson, MD (Erlangen, Germany).

A helpful learning tool for ophthalmologists and students worldwide, the Atlas makes photographs related to more than 1000 ophthalmic diagnoses available through the Internet free of charge.

With text available in English, Spanish and German, the Atlas offers 3000 high quality images, including pathological specimens and the results of fluorescein angiography, ultrasound and other diagnostic techniques.

Ophthalmology should be in the essential curriculum for medical students

The ICO International Task Force on Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students 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 Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Ophthalmic Education of Medical Students (PDF - 201 KB).

Case studies for medical students available free online

The second edition of Case Studies for Medical Students by Mark Mannis, MD, and Mort Smith, MD, is available online at no charge at: ophthalmology.wustl.edu/education/case_studies/medical_students/index.html.

Next: News of ophthalmic education.

Also see:

• Other Resources for Improving Training
  
  
• ICO Asks IFOS Members To Enhance Training