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Perceptions of recent ophthalmology residency graduates regarding preparation for practice.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate young ophthalmologists' perceptions of how well residency training prepared them for various aspects of their clinical practice. DESIGN: Self-administered survey. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred sixty-nine United States ophthalmologists who have been in practice for < or =5 years. METHODS: A 4-page questionnaire was mailed to a randomly selected sample of 900 U.S. members and fellows of the American Academy of Ophthalmology who had been in practice for < or =5 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparison of perceived preparedness in clinical and nonclinical areas of ophthalmology practice. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-nine surveys were completed and returned (margin of error, +/-5%). Analysis of tabulated results indicated that 86% said they were extremely or very well prepared to practice comprehensive ophthalmology after residency training. Even so, about half of those respondents also desired some additional clinical training, and two thirds felt the need for some additional training in surgical areas (refractive, oculoplastics/orbital, glaucoma, retina, and pediatric ophthalmic surgery). At least 60% reported being not very or not at all well prepared in 6 of the nonclinical areas explored (business operations and finance, personal financial management, practice management skills, coding and reimbursement, political advocacy, and exposure to practice setting models). With the exception of personal financial management, most ophthalmologists thought training in all of these nonclinical areas was the responsibility of the residency training program. CONCLUSION: The transition from residency training to successful, efficient, ethical, high-quality ophthalmic practice demands a number of skills in addition to diagnostic acumen and surgical ability. In general, the U.S. residency program graduates surveyed are comfortable with their clinical training, but less so with their training in nonclinical areas. Opportunities to help ophthalmologists prepare better for the transition to clinical practice after training appear to exist and might be addressed by training programs, professional organizations, informal physician networks, and other stakeholders.

Adult↗

Patient expectations for medical and surgical care: a review of the literature and applications to ophthalmology.

Over the past several decades, emphasis on patient-centered care, the dramatic growth of refractive surgery in the United States, and increasing competition in the eye care marketplace have made patient expectations increasingly important in the field of ophthalmology. Patient-centered care recognizes the obligation to understand and meet patient's expectations. Despite increasing patient expectations for refractive surgery and eye care in general, however, there has been limited research on patient expectations within the field of ophthalmology. The vast majority of existing research on patients' expectations has focused on expectations of primary care physicians. Because ophthalmologists are involved in both surgical and medical care, it is important to expand the consideration of patient expectations beyond the traditional primary care setting. Using elements of the taxonomy developed by Kravitz (Kravitz RL: Patients' expectations for medical care: an expanded formulation based on review of the literature. Med Care Res Rev 53:3-27, 1996), this article reviews the existing literature on patient expectations and draws attention to the limited research in specialty and surgical fields. This article has the following objectives: 1) provide a context for understanding what patient expectations are, 2) review the different ways that patient expectations are measured, 3) illustrate the content of patient expectations from empirical research, 4) outline potential determinants of patient expectations, and 5) discuss the role of patient expectations in ophthalmology.

Humans↗

Applications of liposomes in ophthalmology.

This review outlines the applications of liposomal formulations in ophthalmology. In ophthalmology, liposomes have been used to treat disorders of both the anterior and posterior segments. These include dry eyes, keratitis, corneal transplant rejection, uveitis, endophthalmitis, and proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Liposomes also have shown promise as vectors for genetic transfection and monoclonal antibody-directed vehicles. Furthermore, heat-activated liposomes have spurred research in focal laser and heat-induced release of liposomal drugs and dyes for selective drug delivery. These techniques have been useful in selective tumor and neovascular vessel occlusion, angiography, and retinal and choroidal blood-flow studies. Although verteporfin is the only liposomal drug currently approved for use in the eye, the benefits of liposomes will likely be applied widely in all treatment, diagnostic, and research aspects of ophthalmology in the future.

Drug Delivery Systems↗

Present status of ophthalmological care for diabetic patients in Japan.

PURPOSE: To investigate the present status of diabetic care provided by ophthalmologists working in hospitals and private clinics in Japan. METHODS: Questionnaires were mailed to 315 ophthalmologists. There was a return rate of 73%. RESULTS: Problems identified in the clinics were: (1) many diabetic patients who complain chiefly of ophthalmological symptoms voluntarily request their first ophthalmological examination; (2) appropriate cooperation between ophthalmologists and physicians is not established; (3) assessing the level of blood glucose control is difficult; and (4) scheduling of appointments is inadequate. Moreover, (1) inadequate handling of patients who discontinue their ophthalmological examinations, and (2) the lack of an established patient education program were seen as problems common to both hospitals and clinics. CONCLUSIONS: For the resolution of these problems, comprehensive countermeasures should be developed urgently by medical associations, medical administrators, and other relevant entities.

Adult↗

Ophthalmology's characteristics as a specialty, from an information science viewpoint.

Ophthalmology is the medical specialty most oriented toward outpatient care. Hospitalization of eye patients is necessary in only a small percentage of cases requiring surgery. Many more ophthalmologic patients have non-surgical diseases, and even more have no disease, but require preventive check-ups and eyeglasses for benign refractive conditions. Many patients are self-referred or referred non-specifically by other physicians. Ophthalmologic practice is like primary care, with a large throughput of patients, many of whom are normal. The ophthalmologist uses sophisticated instruments and does lengthy and difficult examinations in the private office, when gathering data on which to base medical judgments in the search for patients with serious disease. Data gathering is seldom delegated to distant laboratories. Getting medical information into a computer system poses serious problems that limit the present availability of computerized medical record keeping systems.

Computers↗

The effects of California Proposition 187 on ophthalmology clinic utilization at an inner-city urban hospital.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect on ophthalmology clinic utilization at a major public inner-city hospital of California Proposition 187 and the debate surrounding its passage. Proposition 187 was a statewide referendum passed by 63% of the electorate in the November 1994 election that would restrict social services to undocumented immigrants and require providers to report them to immigration authorities. METHODS: The ophthalmology clinic volume at the Los Angeles County/ University of Southern California Medical Center was analyzed from October 1 to December 31, 1993 and 1994. RESULTS: New walk-in patients significantly decreased (P < 0.001) for a 2-month period around the election, but returned to baseline levels in December 1994. The new patient cancellation and no show rate was not affected. No change in return patient behavior was noted for general and specialty clinics. CONCLUSIONS: Proposition 187 may have caused a statistically significant decrease in new walk-ins to the ophthalmology clinics during a 2-month period surround the November 1994 election, but it had no measurable effect on other indicators of utilization. In addition, utilization rates returned to baseline after the implementation of Proposition 187 was stayed by the judicial system, and concern that providers would be required to report undocumented immigrants to authorities was alleviated.

Appointments and Schedules↗

Lasers in ophthalmology.

Laser technology continues to progress with the addition of new lasers, new delivery systems, and new applications. The introduction of lasers to veterinary ophthalmology has radically changed the level of care that we can provide to our patients. The development of the diode laser has particularly had an impact on veterinary ophthalmology. The diode's affordability, portability, and broad applications for veterinary patients have allowed laser surgery to become a routine part of veterinary ophthalmology practice. Educating the public and veterinary community in available laser techniques will generate improved ophthalmic care and provide more data on which to build future applications.

Animals↗

Remifentanil versus alfentanil as analgesic adjuncts during placement of ophthalmologic nerve blocks.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Short-acting opioids are often used prior to the placement of ophthalmologic nerve blocks. This study examines whether remifentanil would provide superior analgesia compared with alfentanil, without oversedation or prolonged recovery when given either as a single dose over 30 seconds or as a single dose followed by a continuous infusion, in a dose ratio of 1:7 (remifentanil:alfentanil). METHODS: Seventy-nine ASA I-III patients scheduled for elective ophthalmologic surgery participated in this multicenter, double-blind study. Patients were randomized into three groups: remifentanil (remifentanil 1 microg/kg and placebo infusion); remifentanil infusion (remifentanil 1 microg/kg and infusion of 0.2 microg/kg/min); and alfentanil (alfentanil 7 microg/kg and placebo infusion). Supplemental doses of the respective opioid were given as needed. RESULTS: Seventy-seven percent of patients in the remifentanil group were pain-free at the time of the block placement compared with 44% in the alfentanil group (P < .05). Eighty percent of patients in the remifentanil infusion group were pain-free. Although the occurrence of respiratory depression (14%) was higher in the remifentanil infusion group, it was short-lived (< or = 5 minutes) and resolved spontaneously. More than 89% of patients were awake and alert prior to surgery, and > or = 85% bypassed the phase I recovery area. Nausea and vomiting were rare. CONCLUSIONS: Remifentanil 1 microg/kg results in superior analgesia compared with alfentanil 7 microg/kg when used during the placement of ophthalmologic nerve blocks. The combination of a single dose of remifentanil followed by a continuous infusion was equally effective but resulted in a higher incidence of respiratory depression.

Aged↗

Telemedicine in ophthalmology.

OBJECTIVES: To give an overview of telemedical applications in ophthalmology and to provide background information on new tele-ophthalmological applications. METHODS: We carried out a literature review, a database search and an Internet search. RESULTS: According to published research, the cost-efficiency of telemedicine in ophthalmology has not been established. It has been found to have educational benefits and patients have been satisfied with the possibility of obtaining specialist care without having to travel. CONCLUSIONS: Most studies have been pilot studies and telemedicine is still seldom the primary mode of operation. Technical problems have not been significant, but many open questions about organizational and operational issues remain. Further studies should be directed towards solving these problems and establishing technical standards.

Health Care Costs↗

General practitioner registrars' opinions of general practice training in ophthalmology: a questionnaire survey in the northern region.

PURPOSE: Approximately 6% of general practitioners have worked in ophthalmology but to our knowledge the relevance of this training has not previously been evaluated. METHODS: We sent an anonymous questionnaire to all doctors who had held general practitioner registrar (vocational training) posts in ophthalmology in the Northern Region during a 5-year period (1989-1994). RESULTS: Twenty-six of 48 (54%) questionnaires were returned. Twenty-five of 26 respondents (96%) thought the training was useful, with 22 (91.7%) continuing to use some ophthalmic practical skills and 17 (65.4%) said they had received adequate and relevant clinical exposure. Twenty-one (87.5%) of those in general practice felt that they were more confident with eye problems than their peers and 12 (50%) said their referral patterns differed. Eleven (46%) had provided advice for colleagues. However, 9 (34.6%) commented on the large service commitment and 5 (19%) felt that supervision had been inadequate. Only 9 (34.6%) had received relevant teaching and 18 (69%) thought more was necessary. CONCLUSION: We conclude that general practitioner registrar posts in ophthalmology are useful and rewarding but that there is scope for improvement.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

[Epidemiology of uveitis in juvenile idiopathic arthritis from a national paediatric rheumatologic and ophthalmologic database].

BACKGROUND: Uveitis is a frequent and potentially vision-threatening manifestation of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). There are only a few population-based studies providing data on the frequency and severity of uveitis. METHODS: Documentation of patients with JIA was collected in a national database. An analysis of the paediatric rheumatologic and ophthalmologic data collected from all patients that were included in 2002 was performed. RESULTS: Uveitis was documented in 12 % of a total of 3271 JIA patients: extended oligoarthritis (25 %), persistent oligoarthritis (16 %), seronegative polyarthritis (4 %), seropositive polyarthritis (2 %), psoriatic arthritis (10 %), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) (7 %), systemic arthritis (1 %), other arthritis forms (11 %). Ophthalmologic data were available from 115 uveitis patients (28 %). Mean age at onset of uveitis was 5.2 (SD 3.2) years. JIA patients with uveitis were significantly younger at onset of arthritis (3.8 vs. 7.0 years), and were more often girls (74 vs. 63 %) or ANA-positive (86 vs. 42 %) than the patients without uveitis. Uveitis complications were present in 45 % at initial presentation of uveitis. After a mean duration of 5.6 years, complications were noted in 56 %, and included band keratopathy (29 %), posterior synechiae (27 %), cataract (26 %), glaucoma (8 %), and macula oedema (6 %). Final visual acuity was less than 20/50 in 31 % and less than 20/200 in 12 % of eyes. In patients with uveitis, immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory drugs were used significantly more often than in patients without uveitis (75 % vs. 43 %). CONCLUSIONS: The nationwide data documents the spectrum of uveitis in patients with JIA, the complications and the therapy for uveitis. The high rate of uveitis complications at the time of diagnosis points out the need for early ophthalmologic screening and therapy, and for a close collaboration between ophthalmologist and paediatric rheumatologist.

Adolescent↗

[Alfred Th. Leber (1881-1954): a pioneer in tropical ophthalmology. Missing in the South Seas--rediscovered in India].

In spite of the brief duration of German colonial rule during that period tropical medicine enjoyed a remarkable growth and development. This is the first account of the career of the pioneer of tropical ophthalmology, Alfred Theodor Leber (1881-1954); medical history had previously reported him missing in Java after the 1st world war. His career was greatly influenced by his uncle, Theodor Leber (1840-1917), the founder of experimental ophthalmology. Alfred Leber was the one who combined teaching and research in the subjects of ophthalmology and tropical medicine. During his first expedition as a private lecturer together with von Prowazek in Samoa (1910-1911), he discovered the involvement of the eye in filarial infections with Wuchereria bancrofti (Lebers fundus). In consideration of his extraordinary work he was appointed professor at the young age of 33. After his training at the eye clinic at Berlin University under von Michel he worked as senior physician with von Hippel in Göttingen. Both Ludwig Külz and the famous painter Emil Nolde joined him on his second expedition, to New Guinea, in 1913. During his expedition in summer 1914 World War I broke out. Leber could not return to Germany. He stayed in the neutral Dutch East Indies during these years. Favoured by the ravages of war, British and Australian authorities (Military Intelligence, War Office, Defence) succeeded in seizing some of Leber's research reports and kept them under lock and key. The "Leber-Külz medical demographic New Guinea expedition on behalf of the Reich's Colonial Office" was therefore known to the public only as "Emil Nolde's travels in the South Seas".(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Germany↗

[History of the Berlin Ophthalmology Society].

To mark the congress of the Berlin Ophthalmological Society in December 1989, the authors review the development of ophthalmology in Berlin and in particular the history of this ophthalmological society. The review was prompted by the political changes which began in October 1989, enabling ophthalmologists from the eastern part of the city to attend the congress in West Berlin for the first time in 28 years.

Berlin↗

[Development of genetic research in ophthalmology with special reference to Switzerland].

The relationship between ophthalmology and genetics has always been a very active one, and existed even before Mendel's laws of inheritance were known. The pedigree method in particular yielded satisfactory results even to the first researchers. Later, Helmholtz's invention of the ophthalmoscope (in 1851) and the rediscovery of Mendel's laws of heredity (in 1900) made major contributions to the progress of human genetics in ophthalmology. Credit is due to J. F. Horner of Zurich (1831-1886) for having first established the X-chromosomal inheritance of colorblindness. Subsequently, the development of genetic research was advanced in particular by Alfred Vogt, Professor of Ophthalmology in Zurich (1879-1943) and Adolf Franceschetti in Geneva (1896-1968) and their co-workers. We are indebted to Vogt for the first description of albinismus solum bulbi. Credit is also due to him for having made early diagnosis of myotonic dystrophy (Steinert) possible, a major discovery for genetic counseling. He was the first to detect, by slit-lamp examination, characteristic lens changes in the form of whitish, red, and green opacities in the anterior and posterior subcapsular regions. Franceschetti's achievements include the description of several clinical syndromes, of which mandibulofacial dysostosis has become well known. Among the hereditary retinal dystrophies, he described fundus flavimaculatus (yellowish lesions disseminated in the deeper layers of the posterior pole) as a new entity, attributed to degeneration of the pigment epithelium. In addition to more than 500 articles, he was also co-author, with J. François and J. Babel, of a monumental handbook in two volumes titled Hérédodégénérescences choriorétiniennes (of which an English translation appeared in 1974).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Eye Diseases↗

[75th annual session of the Swiss Ophthalmological Society; on its founding and its founders].

The Swiss Ophthalmological Society (SOS) was founded in Bern on 26 April 1908. An important prelude to the foundation of the Society was the tenth international congress of ophthalmology in Lucerne in 1904, at which Marc Dufour presided. Among the 50 Swiss ophthalmologists who organized and attended this congress were the founders of the Swiss Ophthalmological Society. There are neither any minutes nor a list of participants of the first meeting in April 1908, at which August Siegrist acted as president and Jules Gonin as secretary. Some of the founders of the SOS are described in this paper. The first meetings were mainly concerned with administrative and professional problems. Intense scientific activity only started in 1916, mainly due to the efforts of Alfred Vogt in Aarau. The author concludes this paper by pointing out the importance of the "unknown ophthalmologist, whose quiet, unselfish day-to-day work in practice represents a contribution to culture in the sense of creative human activity.

Congresses as Topic↗

[A report on two year of ophthalmological work in Kenya (author's transl)].

After two years' work as lecturers in ophthalmology at the University of Nairobi we report on our experiences in both teaching as well as outpatient and inpatient-care at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Special emphasis is given to the socio-economical background of the public health service in Kenya, to point out the special aspects of day-to-day medical work as well as the different needs of a postgraduate program in ophthalmology in this country. The main purpose of our work, supported by the Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation, Munich University Eye Clinic and many other organizations, was to train ophthalmologists in their own country. Finally, medical research programs currently in progress and concerning special aspects of tropical ophthalmology are reported on. These studies are designed to help find a solution of the problem of blindness, which is briefly analysed, and which is much more urgent in Kenya than in Western Europe.

Education, Medical↗

Inter- and intrareferrals within and between Ophthalmology and Optometry.

The general pattern of interprofessional referrals appears to be limited from ophthalmology to optometry, but substantial from optometry to ophthalmology. The intraprofessional referral rate of ophthalmology far exceeds that of optometry. A potential relationship between unused practice capacity and referral rates is suggested. Referral ethics is discussed.

Humans↗

An evaluation of the undergraduate teaching programme in ophthalmology in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

The knowledge and clinical and minor surgical skills acquired by 257 medical students in three universities in Sri Lanka and Malaysia were assessed by a questionnaire after they had completed their training period in ophthalmology. This study showed that many medical students graduating from these universities lacked the basic clinical and minor surgical skills essential for a doctor practising in a community in south-east Asia. The responses also indicated that teaching by consultants in all three universities was inadequate and due to these inadequacies the students requested that the duration of their training period be doubled. Ophthalmology is an important component of clinical practice and proper education in this subject is important. An urgent revision of the aims and objectives of the curriculum in ophthalmology is essential to place greater emphasis on this important and much neglected subject, for which very little curricular time is allotted.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗