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The International Council of Ophthalmology: what is it and is it useful for UK ophthalmologists?

ICO Director for Examinations and Assessments, Simon Keightley, explains the history and role of the organisation today, as well as outlining recent changes to the ICO examinations. The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) is the only international medical specialty organisation...

Ophthalmology in the developing world

After the second year of medical school, I spent my summer vacation working as a volunteer for a small Italian non-government organisation (NGO), named HEALTH-AID. As part of my volunteering experience, I joined a team of European doctors, medical students...

OBITUARY: James Finbarr (Barry) Cullen

On the sad passing of Eye News’ first editor and long-term contributor JF (Barry) Cullen, his friend Hector Chawla takes a look at the life and career of this effervescent character and giant of the ophthalmology world. Barry Cullen was...

Novel changes during COVID-19 – transforming a walk-in Eye Casualty to a telephone triage service

With the current pandemic climate due to COVID-19, out of the norm approaches have been adopted in different hospitals across the UK to ensure patient safety. At our Eye Casualty (EC) department at Northampton General Hospital (NGH), we felt the...

The implementation of postoperative day 1 vitrectomy telephone follow-up consultations

In this pre-COVID-19 study, the authors argue that some follow-up consultations can be done by telephone without compromising patient safety. Thirty years ago, a study by Isernhagen et al. [1] found that 52% of patients required some form of unexpected...

How to be ‘appy’ on call: a brief guide to mobile phone applications for the on-call ophthalmologist

One of the unexpected outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an increased reliance and integration of computer technology within hospital medicine. The need for stricter infection control policies during and after lockdown has seen a boom in technology utilisation....

The Escape Room and gamification of ophthalmology teaching

Recently, there has been an interesting development in medical education and its ‘gamification’. Educators are constantly looking for new ways to engage their students by adding a friendly element of competition, as evidenced by the great success of online education...

Mindfulness and cataract surgery experience in ophthalmology doctors in training

Mindfulness can be described as the state in which one is to be fully present in the moment, which draws parallels with surgery. The origins of mindfulness stem from ancient Buddhist traditions, and its utilisation in recent times in the...

Assessing the effectiveness of undergraduate ophthalmic assessments in the UK: A literature review

During 2008–2009, 300,000 patients presented to hospital emergency departments in the UK with eye conditions. This rose by nearly 200,000 over the next decade. As the population ages, the prevalence of eye disease increases [1,2]. However, the stake ophthalmology holds...

Developing a unified approach to low-vision care

RNIB’s Preeti Singla and Louise Gow introduce the Adult Low Vision Service Quality Framework. For individuals living with visual impairment, access to high-quality low vision services can be life changing. Yet, across the UK, these services remain fragmented, with significant...

Life in the glaucoma laboratory

When people ask me what life in the laboratory is really like, I often pause. On one hand, it is the romantic notion of pushing back the boundaries of science with the daily rhythm of experiments, data and easily obtained...

In conversation with Professor Bernie Chang, President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists

Congratulations on your appointment as RCOphth President in May last year. COVID-19 hit just before your presidency started. This must have been an incredibly challenging time to take the reins. How has the College risen to the challenges? Thank you....