Eyeworld

EW MEETING REPORTER 116 October 2018 EyeWorld reports from the 2018 Women in Ophthalmology (WIO) Summer Symposium, August 16–19, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida In terms of strategies to com- bat sexual harassment, Dr. Cabrera offered several. These included bystander interventions—when those witnessing it offer the victim support and/or confront the harass- er—increasing partnership with an institution's Title IX office, having sexual harassment education pro- grams, and creating zero-tolerance policies. Editors' note: The speakers have no financial interests related to their comments. Tips for better patient-healing and better self-healing Several speakers during this session gave strategies to better heal patients and also take better care of oneself as a physician. Kelly Muir, MD, Durham, North Carolina, addressed the common topic of patient com- pliance issues with eye drops. There are a variety of reasons why patients may be noncompliant with drop regimens, but Dr. Muir gave three ways to "help us help our patients take care of themselves." The first was to provide clear communication materials, devel- oped with an active voice, limited dense text, and clear graphics. Her second tip was to ask patients about any problems they might be hav- ing with their drops and take the recognize when those feelings arise in yourself, visualize your success, step out of your comfort zone, and make friends with failure, which Dr. Colby said is the only way we learn and grow. Ashvini Reddy, MD, Oklahoma City, addressed specific statistics on women in ophthalmology, espe- cially from an earnings standpoint. There is a disparity in earnings be- tween men and women, for various reasons, that should be addressed and explored because the "expense" of neglecting this topic is great. Dr. Reddy pointed out that a woman earning $50,000 less annually faces a loss of $1.5 million over her 30-year career. If you added that up among all U.S. female ophthalmologists, that's more than $6.7 billion during their working lifetime. Michelle Cabrera, MD, Seat- tle, spoke about sexual harassment in ophthalmology in the context of the #MeToo movement. WIO conducted a survey earlier this year of its membership on the topic of sexual harassment, finding that 59% of survey participants (who were mostly female) experienced sexual harassment, 47% of which reported it happening within the last 5 years. Most reported sexual harassment oc- curring while they were in medical school or residency, but it happened at later career stages as well. Challenges and opportunities for women in ophthalmology While women have made great strides in ophthalmology, many challenges and opportunities re- main, according to Sonal Tuli, MD, Gainesville, Florida. For example, although more than 50% of medical school students now are women, the number of women in ophthalmol- ogy begins lagging behind men in terms of reaching the higher leader- ship roles, data presented by Dr. Tuli showed. This could be due to various factors including culture, a lack of female role models in the field, ex- plicit and implicit bias, and impos- tor syndrome, Dr. Tuli said. Kathryn Colby, MD, Chicago, gave more details on impostor syndrome, in- cluding her own experiences with it. Impostor syndrome, she explained, is when high-achieving individu- als question their abilities and fear that others might discover them to be frauds. This is more likely to be experienced by women, but it can be experienced by men as well. At least 70% of people will experience impostor syndrome, Dr. Colby said, which can be associated with anxi- ety, stress, and depression. Dr. Colby, for example, was invited at a recent meeting to give a talk on ocular surface tumors in children. When she reached the podium, she saw in the audience four experts in that specific field, which caused her to ask, "Why am I giving this talk?" Within those few moments, Dr. Colby recognized this impostor syndrome in herself, inter- nally laughed about it, and ended up giving a successful presentation. In terms of monitoring im- postor syndrome, you need to pay attention to your inner voice, Dr. Colby said. Sharing your experi- ences with impostor syndrome is also helpful in showing others (and yourself) that you're not alone in experiencing those feelings. Learn to EyeWorld reports from the 2018 Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium

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