Publication Exclusive: Pearls for residents, fellows as surgical training gets underway

During medical school there is relatively little exposure to ophthalmology, and only about 2% of all residency positions are devoted to our field. Training in ophthalmology is different from other specialties in so many ways, from the surgical instruments and techniques to the diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. Probably the most challenging part of ophthalmology residency or fellowship is brevity of the training.

Just think how much has changed in ophthalmology in the past decade or two. Now surgeons in training must learn everything that I learned in 2000 when I finished my training, plus all of the new advances that have occurred in the past 16 years. And they must do this in the same number of years that I did, which is quite a challenge. Here are my pearls for the new ophthalmology residents and fellows who are starting their training this month.

Read to acquire knowledge

Every year the Basic and Clinical Science books from the American Academy of Ophthalmology seem to get thicker with more pages to read. Spending time every night reading is an important part of acquiring the knowledge needed to be a good ophthalmologist. This is not easy because you will likely be involved in clinical activities from the early morning until the evening every day, and when you are on call, this can even extend into the night.

Another excellent way to learn is to correlate your reading with the patients you saw earlier in the day. If you see a patient with a complex disease such as Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome, reading about the details of the disease that same day will help cement it in your knowledge base. Teaching the basics of VKH to a medical student on your team will further help you to understand and retain the facts. When it is time to take your oral exam for board certification, questions about VKH can be answered by thinking back to your patient encounter from years prior.

The first time you read through the Basic Science books, they will seem very detailed and thorough, but as you acquire knowledge, you will see that they are in fact just overviews of the subspecialties. What amounts to just a few pages in the Basic Science book may be a summary of a more specific 1,000-page book. While reading can be done on your own even after you finish your residency or fellowship program, learning one-on-one with a surgeon mentor is most easily done while still in training.

Click here to read the full publication exclusive, Back to Basics, published in Ocular Surgery News U.S. Edition, July 25, 2016.