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Learning Ocular Surgical Techniques
With a field that evolves so rapidly, learning about new surgical techniques and technologies becomes a life-long process for ophthalmologists.
Surgical learning while working full-time as a practicing ophthalmologist is challenging: there isn't enough time, there's a business to be run, and it's difficult to watch others operate.
Learning during residency was relatively easy by comparison: there were structured lectures, wet lab sessions, and great mentors in the operating room. Residents swim in a learning environment and they are able to soak up a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in a short period of time.
Ten years ago, as a resident at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute, I found that I could learn more surgical techniques by borrowing VHS tapes of Robert Osher's Video Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery and watching them over and over again. I could observe surgical techniques from famous surgeons from across the globe, all from the comfort of my 600 square foot apartment.
 Implementing new surgical techniques that were learned by watching internet-based videos. |
Well, I no longer own a VHS video cassette player, but I still find that watching surgical videos is a great way for me to learn surgical techniques. Reading a great article about a surgical technique is good; studying an instructional video is even better.
Ophthalmology remains the most high-tech field in all of medicine, and a quick search of the internet reflects that in the volume and quality of the ocular surgery instructional videos. I've made dozens of surgical teaching videos, but I've watched hundreds, which shows that I've learned far more than I've taught.
My blog will focus on ocular surgical techniques and in writing it, I hope that I can share some of the pearls that I've learned from the countless talented surgeons who have directly and indirectly taught me so much.
Uday