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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Academic Ophthalmology 2020; 12(02): e195-e199
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1716714
Editorial

Virtual Ophthalmology Rotations—A Real Possibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Edmund Tsui   *
1   UCLA Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
,
Michael B. Wells   *
2   The Ohio State University Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Havener Eye Institute, Columbus, Ohio
,
Mubarik Mohamed
2   The Ohio State University Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Havener Eye Institute, Columbus, Ohio
,
Christian M. Felix
1   UCLA Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
,
JoAnn A. Giaconi
1   UCLA Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
› Author Affiliations Funding This work is supported by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. to the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA.
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As the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spreads worldwide and throughout the United States, medical education has been challenged to create alternative clinical experiences amidst a dynamic enviroment.[1] Medical schools temporarily suspended students from direct patient care to help reduce the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and preserve health systems' personal protective equipment, and transitioned teaching to online platforms wherever possible. In response, the Coalition on Physician Accountability listed recommendations on May 11, 2020 regarding the 2020–2021 residency cycle.[2] Briefly, in-person away rotations are highly discouraged or even prohibited by institutions, except in limited circumstances; digital interviews and virtual tours will replace the traditional residency interview visits.

Given differing regional infection rates and resource allocations, potential disparities in clinical rotation experiences may ensue. Ophthalmology programs can mitigate these inequities by creating robust virtual experiences that allow students to learn ophthalmic pathology and treatments, hone some of their clinical skills, and explore residency curriculum and culture while maintaining the safety of students, educators, and patients. Currently, specialty-specific guidelines are posted on the Association of American Medical Colleges Web site, including those of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), whereby clinical departments are in the process of operationalizing virtual remote rotations with limited offerings through Visiting Student Learning Opportunities.[3] Specifically, the AUPO has discouraged in-person away rotations given ongoing travel-related concerns, except in specific circumstances.[3] [4] The 2020–2021 match timeline has already been affected by cancellations of planned student rotations, which will likely persist throughout the upcoming academic year. Visiting subinternships are crucial for students applying into competitive specialties, such as ophthalmology, in providing advanced clinical experiences and the chance to learn about other programs.[5]

Therefore, innovative teaching approaches are needed to ensure students have access to clinical rotations while ensuring the safety of patients, staff, and trainees. In this environment, medical schools have increasingly incorporated virtual learning as a medium to provide instruction to students. Challenges exist in incorporating this virtual medium of learning to both the preclerkship and clerkship learning environments. We offer our perspective from both the UCLA Stein Eye Institute and the Ohio State University (OSU) Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science on virtual rotations and detail our pilot experiences using virtual examinations.

* Co-first authors




Publication History

Article published online:
15 October 2020

© 2020. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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