Multicentric Medical Student Profile and Their Perspectives About Ophthalmology Education

Regarding the comments on the article “Profile of medicine students and their perspectives on the teaching of Ophthalmology”⁽¹⁾ published in this respected journal, we would like to mention some points.

The article demonstrates the importance of Academic Leagues in complementing ophthalmic knowledge in the current curriculum of Medical Schools in Brazil.⁽¹⁾

The Brazilian population of doctors and the world population of ophthalmologists are increasing, but their distribution has not met the need for care of the population.⁽²⁾

Thus, we realize that an ophthalmic care making use of technology and being directed to the most resolutive and prevalent aspects is necessary. The hope for a natural displacement of medical specialists to remote regions has not happened, given the complexity of care, requiring complementary sub-specialties in the same region and expensive and adequate equipment.

This problem ends up being smaller in countries with good infrastructure of public transportation allowing patients to travel to cities with specialized care. However, this is not true in most countries, and other strategies should be considered.

The time of teaching Ophthalmology in Medical Schools has been reduced in several of them. The number of Medical Schools that have compulsory education in the United States dropped from 68% in 2000 to 30% in 2004.⁽³⁾ This reflects the increased the number of general practitioners who are less familiar with sight and its illnesses. Thus, we must choose what and for whom to teach. For primary care physicians, a broad bibliography and traditional equipment is inefficient. Maybe we have to prepare them to deal with simple data collection equipment and remote sending, emphasizing the findings to be sought and basic guidelines for patients. In the field of personal (elective) choices, the leagues play an important role in allowing early incursion and choice with better knowledge of the specialty.

The economic, social and territorial conditions of our country have changed and will further change education, and leagues are freer support points to dare. Perhaps it is not exactly their job to prepare this leap, with the understanding of algorithms, tele-ophthalmology training, realistic simulation, empathy, and leadership, so that doctors of the future will not feel so unprepared, even in unfamiliar and remote locations.⁽⁴⁾

Referências

• ¹
  Ferreira MA, Gameiro GR, Cordeiro FM, Santos TV, Hilarião AA, Souza GM, et al. Perfil multicêntrico do acadêmico de medicina e suas perspectivas sobre o ensino da Oftalmologia. Rev Bras Oftalmol . 2019; 78 (5): 351-20.
• ²
  Resnikoff S, Lansingh VC, Washburn L, Felch W, Gauthier TM, Taylor HR, et al. Estimated number of ophthalmologistsworldwide (International Council of Ophthalmolog yupdate): will we meet theneeds? Br J Ophthalmol . 2019 Jul 2. pii: bjophthalmol-2019-314336.
• ³
  Quillen DA, Harper RA, Haik BG. Medical student education inophthalmology: Crisis and opportunity. Ophthalmolog y. 2005;112(11):1867-8.
• ⁴
  Surendran TS, Raman R. Teleophthalmology in diabetic retinopathy. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2014; 8(2):262-6.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  15 May 2020
• Date of issue
  Mar-Apr 2020