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Ophthalmic learning through the lens of cognitivism and constructivism

Learning in ophthalmology is multi-faceted, from understanding the fundamentals of eye anatomy and physiology to higher order skills such as performing cataract and vitreoretinal surgery. Having a strong foundation in the basics is a necessity for higher order knowledge synthesis,...

Competition ratios: Is the future of ophthalmology too bright?

In the UK, ophthalmology is a highly competitive speciality, attracting many medical graduates keen to pursue a career in this area. However, in recent years, the competition ratios for ophthalmology ST1 training posts have increased significantly, creating a challenging environment...

Are social media promoting ocular protection in the community?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries worldwide introduced lockdown measures to control infection, causing people to spend more time at home. This resulted in reports of increasing incidences of do-it-yourself (DIY)-related trauma. When the Covid-19 pandemic started in December 2019,...

Enhancing ophthalmology training: Unleashing the power of simulation

Ethical and practical barriers hinder early surgical experience in ophthalmology training [1], which is problematic when early-career trainees bring a higher risk of poor surgical outcomes and patient harm [2]. The European working time directive and the surgical backlog secondary...

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...

The Sickle Cell Retinopathy Network is leading global change in screening and management

Sickle cell disease or disorder (SCD) is one of the most neglected health conditions in the world. A strong hypothesis is that this is because SCD affects people of African, Caribbean and other Global Majority communities and has received disproportionately...

Large language models in ophthalmology

Traditional artificial intelligence (AI) models typically require large amounts of labelled data for training. For example, to develop a model capable of detecting macular pathologies on optical coherence tomography scans, thousands of scans would need to be manually labelled by...

Breakthroughs in the genetics of angle-closure glaucoma

Angle closure glaucoma (ACG) is not widely known to be a familial condition, yet the recent explosion of genetic data and large scale genome wide investigations have confirmed at least 13 genetic loci associated with ACG [1], and provided some...