Sharpening the focus on ophthalmology teaching: perceptions of medical students and junior medical officers

Abstract

JMOs and medical students do not show high levels of confidence in basic ophthalmological clinical skills and knowledge, and report inadequate emphasis on ophthalmology during medical school.

Accuracy of diagnosis of pterygium by optometrists and general practitioners in Australia

“…Optometrists spend five to seven years in primary eye health care and general practitioners train for four to six years in medicine followed by another four years in post‐graduate training in general practice. The time devoted to ophthalmic education during medical training has been diluted by competing curricula, resulting in fewer ophthalmic skills acquired by current medical graduates …”

“…This indicates a dramatic decrease in exposure to eye conditions for general practitioners in training. Therefore, one could attribute the reason for the relative failure of general practitioners to correctly diagnose a pterygium is likely to be the result of inadequate training of medical graduates or general practitioners in the area of ophthalmology . However, it should be noted that the error in diagnosis relates only to patients for whom the referral sources thought consideration for treatment might be appropriate.…”

“…The time devoted to ophthalmic education during medical training has been diluted by competing curricula, resulting in fewer ophthalmic skills acquired by current medical graduates. 8,9 Until 2011, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners curriculum contained two pages relating to eye conditions compared to the 2016 version where there is only a sentence about eye procedures. 10 This indicates a dramatic decrease in exposure to eye conditions for general practitioners in training.…”

“…Therefore, one could attribute the reason for the relative failure of general practitioners to correctly diagnose a pterygium is likely to be the result of inadequate training of medical graduates or general practitioners in the area of ophthalmology. 8,9 However, it should be noted that the error in diagnosis relates only to patients for whom the referral sources thought consideration for treatment might be appropriate. It is likely, but not proven, that patients with pterygia not considered for referral, would be smaller or less problematic and therefore perhaps, they might indeed be more difficult for a general practitioner to diagnose than those that were actually referred.…”

Sharpening the focus on ophthalmology teaching: has anything changed?

“…There was an associated editorial and several letters to the editor, indicating that there was considerable interest in this issue. Now, the publication of Zhang et al .’s findings on perceptions of medical students and junior medical officers prompts yet another pause for reflection. What has not changed and why?…”