Resident surgical experience with lens and corneal refractive surgery: Survey of the ASCRS Young Physicians and Residents Membership

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the quantity and perceived quality of Ophthalmology resident surgical experience with surgical astigmatism management, new technology IOL implantation, and corneal refractive surgery. Setting US ACGME Ophthalmology Residency current members and recent graduates via electronic survey. Methods A 43-question survey was emailed to all resident members of ASCRS, ASCRS members in practice for 5 years or less, and to residency program directors of 118 U.S. ACGME accredited ophthalmology programs in June 2010. The surveys were performed electronically using Survey Monkey, a commercially available Internet-based survey web service. Results Two hundred and seventy-six surveys were included. Most of the respondents (88.7%) served as primary surgeon in over 100 cataract surgeries, and 89.4% of respondents felt their exposure to cataract surgery was either “adequate” or “excessive”. Fifty-two percent of respondents had not performed corneal relaxing incisions and 60% of respondents had no experience implanting a toric IOL. Twenty-two percent of respondents had experience implanting a presbyopia-correcting IOL, while most (??%) felt that this training should begin in residency. Over 75% of respondents had not performed LASIK or surface ablation procedures; while most (80.9%) felt that this training should begin in residency. Conclusions While total cataract case numbers appear adequate, there are significant perceived deficiencies in current resident training models in preparing future surgeons for procedures and techniques they are likely to utilize after residency.

Complication rates of resident-performed cataract surgery: Impact of early introduction of cataract surgery training

“…A recent publication 2 reported that today more than 90% of programs are introducing cataract surgery in the second year and up to 33% of programs introduce cataract surgery in the first year. This is a significant increase from a 2013 study 9 reporting that only 79% and 18% of programs introduced cataract surgery in the second year and first year, respectively.…”

The impact of surgical training on the practice of recently graduated ophthalmologists at Riyadh’s ophthalmology residency program

“…Refractive surgeries are among the most widespread surgeries worldwide and 50% of the American programs involve their residents in such procedures 16 . Some experts advocate expanding the surgical education to incorporate lens and corneal refractive surgeries 17 . Other studies had shown that residents could attain excellent outcomes implementing premium intraocular (IOL) lenses (ex: toric IOL) 18, 19…”

A survey of perceived training differences between ophthalmology residents in Hong Kong and China

“…A recent report indicates that nearly 90 % of ophthalmology residents in the United States have served as the primary surgeon in more than 100 cataract cases by the completion of residency [ 24 ]. Based on a retrospective chart review of 375 surgical records from 25 ophthalmology residents, Wiggins [ 25 ] has suggested that residents may need to perform at least 121 cataract cases, as their phacoemulsification time only reached that of senior doctors at this point.…”