BackgroundEmergency room physicians are frequently called upon to assess eye injuries and vision problems in the absence of specialized ophthalmologic equipment. Technological applications that can be used on mobile devices are only now becoming available.ObjectiveTo review the literature on the evidence of clinical effectiveness of smartphone applications for visual acuity assessment marketed by two providers (Google Play and iTunes).MethodsThe websites of two mobile technology vendors (iTunes and Google Play) in Canada and Ireland were searched on three separate occasions using the terms “eye”, “ocular”, “ophthalmology”, “optometry”, “vision”, and “visual assessment” to determine what applications were currently available. Four medical databases (Cochrane, Embase, PubMed, Medline) were subsequently searched with the same terms AND mobile OR smart phone for papers in English published in years 2010–2017.ResultsA total of 5,024 Canadian and 2,571 Irish applications were initially identified. After screening, 44 were retained. Twelve relevant articles were identified from the health literature. After screening, only one validation study referred to one of our identified applications, and this one only partially validated the application as being useful for clinical purposes.ConclusionMobile device applications in their current state are not suitable for emergency room ophthalmologic assessment, because systematic validation is lacking.

No abstract

Through an examination of the life of an 83-year-old patient diagnosed clinically with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), general practice specialists, consultants and junior doctors will see the importance of assessing their patient's concept of health and how to use this understanding to target healthcare options within their healthcare system. This article highlights, in a resource limited context of rural family practice, the utility of a strong physician–patient relationship, recalls the definition of patient-centred care, and the role of judicious inaction in certain contexts. These lessons can be extrapolated for use in more resource rich or specialised settings such as academic hospitals throughout Europe.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common systemic vasculitis of childhood. The following presentation of a 4-year-old Irish boy referred to a secondary care paediatric service from the community with prolonged fever, oral mucous membrane changes and painless blistering lesions of the hands and feet in the presence of elevated inflammatory markers serves as an opportunity to discuss the diagnostic criteria and treatment for KD and incomplete KD, an often missed diagnosis with significant paediatric morbidity outside an academic paediatric centre.

Effective mentorship can mean the difference between success and failure in any career. We set out to examine mentorship (the student-supervisor relationship) of graduate students in a Medical Faculty. Themes were extracted from taped and transcribed focus group data gathered at an intervention workshop held for students and supervisors of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto in November 2010. This was supplemented with 6 in-depth, semi-structured, 60 minute interviews with students and supervisors completed in spring 2012. Three important themes needed for effective mentorship were extracted: 1) ongoing , frank, informal communication, 2) mutually understood, evolving boundaries that address needs of students and supervisors and 3) supportive independence for students permitting growth and development. In conclusion, graduate faculties must develop and implement policies that encourage mentorship-friendly environments in order to ensure faculty accountability to students while, at the same time, avoiding rigid, bureaucratic approaches to graduate supervision.