Undergraduates
Ophthalmology specialty training applications: a costly affair?
Ophthalmology is one of the most competitive specialties to pursue training in worldwide. In the United Kingdom, the ST1 entry national selection competition ratio for the past few years has ranged between four to five applicants per post [1]. The...
The Duke-Elder exam: A medical student’s head start into ophthalmology
The Duke-Elder exam is a specialist ophthalmology exam intended for medical students to sit during medical school. It is named after Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, a pioneering Scottish ophthalmologist who was active in the first half of the 20th Century by...
Sustainability in eyecare: Are virtual clinics the way forward in the diagnosis and monitoring of retinal disease?
Virtual clinics can be used successfully in screening and management of ocular conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity and age-related macular degeneration. Virtual clinics should be a considered as a more clinically appropriate modality of consultation, diagnosis and...
Should it be a mandatory requirement for medical students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to attend clinical attachments?
The vast majority of medical students have positive attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine for themselves and patients, however, what about the small inevitable minority who resist it? Should they be prevented from attending clinical attachments in the NHS? It is...
The adverse effects of COVID-19 on undergraduate ophthalmology education: An opportunity to reform ophthalmology training
The steady erosion of undergraduate ophthalmology teaching, which has been acutely exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, has led to a lack of basic ophthalmology examining skills and knowledge amongst clinicians of other specialities. Concurrently, there has been a rise in...
Will COVID-19 impact the selection of ophthalmology as a career choice by medical students?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on medical education and has called for large shifts in the medical curriculum. Clinical attachments were suspended at the height of the pandemic and examinations were cancelled or were moved to an online...
‘Getting a head start’: ways medical students can boost their chances of entering ophthalmology training
Ophthalmology is one of the most competitive medical specialities in the UK, with 3.74 applicants per place in 2018 [1]. Given the competitive nature of this highly specialised field, medical students who are interested in pursuing a career in ophthalmology...
Survey of current undergraduate ophthalmology teaching in the United Kingdom
Is there a crisis in ophthalmic education? The British Undergraduate Ophthalmology Society surveyed medical students and junior doctors to evaluate current ophthalmology teaching across medical schools in the UK. British medicals schools are currently not obligated to include ophthalmology within...
