BLOG: World Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus website

The World Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, or WSPOS, is a registered charity that focuses on education within pediatric ophthalmology. It has held three international meetings since 2009 and is planning the fourth one in Hyderabad, India, in December 2017.

In September I had the chance to attend the subspecialty day of the WSPOS during the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. A selection of hot topics was covered by lecturers from all over the world followed by lively discussions afterward. Lectures on the latest and best research from cutting-edge centers were mixed with talks about the challenges of giving the best possible ophthalmologic care in countries where resources are severely limited — both expanding my horizon and inspiring me to become a better professional.

WSPOS has launched a website, http://wspos.org, to further enhance its educational purpose. The main site contains general information about the organization along with information about future and past meetings. But the most interesting material is found in the membership area. Registration is needed to gain access to that part of the page, but that is free, quick and painless. Once registered and logged in, you get access to the Kanski quiz, surgical videos, Barcelona congress interviews and Barcelona videos.

The best part of the page is found at the very end of the title menu, the Barcelona videos. Here you can access high-resolution video recordings from the entire meeting in Barcelona 2015. The videos are hosted on an external service, Vimeo, ensuring stability and a top-notch viewing experience. This section would be perfect if it contained details about the sessions and the included presentations.

I tried accessing the Kanski quiz from multiple browsers on two computers but was not able to get it to work, which was disappointing; however, I was able to get a glimpse of the quiz and it looked very promising. The surgical videos section contains about 20 videos, most of them covering strabismus diagnostics and treatments. This section seems to be a work in progress, and with time and better organization, it can grow into a great resource. The Barcelona congress interviews section contains six brief video interviews from the 2015 meeting in Barcelona.

The WSPOS has arranged three ambitious meetings about worldwide challenges in pediatric ophthalmology. On its website, it generously shares free-of-charge, high-quality video recordings from its 2015 convention in Barcelona, which anyone interested in pediatric ophthalmology should take a closer look at. The remaining parts of the website look hopeful but need a bit more work to become practical to use.

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Helgi David Björnsson , MD , runs a website with a collection of his favorite finds on Ophtholinks.com. He can be reached at email: helgidavid@gmail.com.