Ophthalmology Foundation in the News

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Ophthalmology Foundation have signed a new partnership agreement to support ophthalmologists throughout their careers – and advance patient care. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will strengthen international collaboration in education, assessment and professional development. Under the agreement, the two organisations will formally recognise the value and professional standing of each other’s examinations.

The Ophthalmology Foundation was represented at the 70th Annual Brazilian Ophthalmology Congress. The Ophthalmology Foundation was proud to endorse CBO LDP: “Empower One. Transform Many. From Learner to Change-Maker,” exploring how education can cultivate transformative leadership in ophthalmology. In addition, the Ophthalmology Foundation was part of the CBO Conference of Educators featuring: “Beyond the Curriculum: How Europe Is Transforming Ophthalmology Training.

Global eye health priorities require innovative educational strategies that can expand workforce capacity despite limited financial and human resources. This narrative review examined how integrating Competency-based medical education (CBME) and entrustable professional activities (EPAs) can enhance competency-based ophthalmic education and support scalable training globally.

This article highlights how international ophthalmology fellowships can strengthen both individual ophthalmologists and their home institutions. Fellows gain advanced clinical and surgical skills while also being exposed to different health systems, disease patterns, teaching approaches, and research opportunities.

The Ophthalmology Times Europe (OTE) spoke with David E. I. Pyott, MDhc, Vice President and Founding Board Member of the Ophthalmology Foundation about the foundation’s programs, the role European institutions play in hosting fellows, the launch of a new international examination and the digital tools reshaping how surgical skills are taught across borders.

Mentorship and effective feedback are crucial parts of medicine that frequently get pushed aside for the more objective assessments in medical education. It is imperative for feedback and mentorship to be addressed now more than ever because of the high prevalence of physician burn-out and overwhelming stress levels in the medical field, especially after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The intent of this manuscript is to review best practices in providing effective feedback.

The article offers practical best practices for creating and reviewing rigorous ophthalmology exam questions that accurately assess candidates’ knowledge and clinical reasoning. It also provides sample questions from the Ophthalmology Foundation exams in the areas of visual science, optics, and clinical ophthalmology.

This article offers practical guidance for ophthalmologists who do not pass an examination. The article emphasizes that exam failure should be viewed as feedback and an opportunity for learning, rather than a reflection of a candidate’s ability or potential. Learn how to respond to exam failure with reflection, support, perseverance, and a constructive plan for improvement.

Health professions education (HPE) in underserved and resource-constrained regions faces persistent challenges, including limited faculty development opportunities and the absence of context-specific curricula. This study explores integrating online active and constructivist social learning strategies within team projects to address these educational gaps, emphasizing equitable international partnerships between experienced global ophthalmological societies (GOS) in HPE, and national ophthalmological societies especially in underserved regions.

This article provides practical advice for ophthalmologists preparing for online examinations. It covers creating a structured study plan, reviewing both basic sciences and clinical ophthalmology, practicing with exam-style questions, and becoming familiar with the online exam platform and technology. This includes combining focused studying, practice questions, technology preparation, and good exam-day habits.

Social media (SoMe) has emerged as a tool in health professions education (HPE), particularly amidst the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Four key components were outlined as necessary for a successful integration, and include designing learning experiences, defining educator roles, selecting appropriate platforms, and establishing educational objectives. This article stemmed from the online Teaching Skills Series module on SoMe in education from the Ophthalmology Foundation, and drew upon evidence supporting learning theories relevant to SoMe integration and models of education.

Recognizing the need for addressing regional training priorities, Orbis International has created a “Foundation Curriculum,” with the Ophthalmology Foundation, which contains the essentials that all ophthalmologists should know and be able to do. The Orbis global residency foundation curriculum is designed to encompass all aspects of ophthalmology relevant to any training program worldwide. It includes the essential knowledge and skills that residents must acquire.

Our goal as medical educators is for our students to learn what they need to know and competently perform ophthalmic procedures. Most medical educators are not taught how to teach but rather learn by role-modeling their mentors. The Ophthalmology Foundation (OF) was formed in part to improve the training ability of ophthalmic educators. This is done through a variety of face-to-face and online activities.

Understanding how learning occurs is useful to inform instructional design and create more engaging and enjoyable learning environments. In this first article of a quartet thematic series on good practices in simulation-based training, we reviewed several learning theories that can illuminate learning by simulation. We describe how to develop and improve a simulation center considering a holistic approach. Finally, we conclude by supporting the concept of developing mastery in high-quality education by simulation as a natural ally for accreditation acknowledgment and demonstrable impact on educational and clinical outcomes with patient safety and better care.

Faculty development should be a priority to sustain and support simulation-based training programs. Clinical educators in ophthalmology should be provided with development opportunities and training in simulation-based education opportunities to become better facilitators and keep up with this fast-growing educational field. Faculty development programs must be designed to train facilitators who are competent in simulation-based education which aligns with social needs and the institution’s mission and philosophy.

Simulation-based training emerged in recent decades and follows a stepwise approach starting with basic skills training, moving on to procedural training culminating in team training in an authentic environment. Simulation-based education programs must be embedded into a curriculum and should not be an optional add-on. Further evidence proves that deliberate practice, procedural simulation, and debriefing can be transferred to operational performance in clinical settings and could result in safer and more efficient care for patients, health-care providers, and health systems.

Recommendations could be useful to guide institutions planning to incorporate simulation-based education (SBE) into their training programs or institutions that have an established program but want to benchmark it against best practices. Recommendations for creating collaborations and partnerships for surgical simulation training will enhance the impact of any eye care program.