Eyeworld

18 | EYEWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2020 N EWS by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director in the proportion of women graduating medical schools and entering ophthalmology (23.8% to 27.1%), but the authors found no increase in underrepresented minorities. They also noted a decrease in underrepresented minorities among ophthalmology faculty. A separate study that evaluated racial and ethnic diversity among fac- ulty in clinical academics also saw an increasing trend toward underrepresentation. 3 "Medicine cannot reach its full potential without harnessing the talents of all segments of society," said M. Roy Wilson, MD. Prior to becoming president at Wayne State University, Dr. Wilson was the deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health. "Medicine serves everyone—rich or poor, man or woman, Black or white. When one or more groups are excluded, the profession does not have access to the talents of that group. T he public and recorded killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25 initiated several months of protests regarding police use of force and systemic racism in the U.S. As a result, the impact of racism and diversity are being discussed with renewed fervor and focus in many areas of American life, including within the healthcare system. As it pertains to eyecare, research has shown several times over that there is a dispar- ity in care among minority groups and patients with lower socioeconomic status compared to white patients and those of higher socioeco- nomic status. 1 Alongside that, some of the most recent research on the makeup of the oph- thalmology workforce found that women and minorities are underrepresented in the special- ty—22.7% and 6%, respectively. 2 According to this research, which examined data from 2005 and 2015 from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Medical Asso- ciation, and U.S. Census, there was an increase Discussing diversity in ophthalmology continued on page 21 About the sources Daniel Laroche, MD Clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, New York Marc Nivet, EdD Executive vice president for institutional advancement University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, Texas M. Roy Wilson, MD President Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan Imam Xierali, PhD Associate professor Department of Family and Community Medicine University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, Texas Experience Eyeworld's print publications online Digital.EyeWorld.org EyeWorld Supplements EyeWorld Daily News Archives ASCRS S AT U R DAY, M AY 16 , 2 0 2 0 | AS C R S V I R T U A L A N N U A L M E E T I N G DAILY NEWS HIGHLIGHTS ASCRS FOUNDATION UPDATE P. 6 FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW P. 12 OPS WINNING IMAGES P. 28 way to help our members with the recovery process," he said. The meeting will feature more than 30 CME credits and more than 400 hours of content, and special sessions will highlight COVID-19-related content. Dr. Kim started by congrat- ulating and thanking Edward Holland, MD, chair of the ASCRS Program Committee, Steve Speares, ASCRS execu- tive director, ASCRS staff and leadership, industry sponsors, and participating faculty for by Ellen Stodola Editorial Co-Director T hough the ASCRS An- nual Meeting looks a bit different this year in its new, virtual for- mat, Terry Kim, MD, incoming president of ASCRS, said that it's a major step forward to ad- dress the current crisis, and he emphasized all the efforts that ASCRS is making to guide its members through these chal- lenging times. The Virtual Annual Meet- ing is an enormous initiative in terms of time and resources that ASCRS decided to under- take to address the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Kim said. "We took this important step because we thought it would be the best their collaboration to make the very first Virtual Annual Meeting a reality. "We've never done a virtual meeting before, and due to having to cancel our Annual Meeting in Bos- ton fairly late, we didn't have much time to put this together. But thanks to the hard work and long hours put in by our Program Committee and ASCRS staff, we were able to produce a high-quality virtual Shifting gears to reflect on his year as president of ASCRS, Dr. Mamalis took a moment to pause and preface. "This terri- ble crisis in the whole country and what the entire profession is going through makes it diffi- cult to sit down and talk about what accomplishments have been done over the past year," Dr. Mamalis said. That said, he mentioned the rebranding of ASCRS that launched a year ago, making it clear what ASCRS does for its members and for surgeons. It's slogan—For surgeons. For you.—Dr. Mamalis said shows the commitment the society has for surgeons. "This is truly by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director N ick Mamalis, MD, outgoing president of ASCRS, shared his thoughts on the ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting and his presidency as a whole. First, he gave "huge kudos" to the ASCRS staff and the Program Committee who took the full ASCRS Annual Meeting and distilled it into a 2-day virtual meeting in an extremely short period of time. "I'm very grateful that we were able to put togeth- er this meeting virtually," Dr. Mamalis said. "I am incredibly impressed at the amount of work everyone has been doing putting this together." Features he is excited for include the two-part "Turning the Lights Back On" session, which he said will be extremely timely for attendees. "The sessions on getting the practice going again, what are the steps to doing this … I think these are going to give invaluable information for people who are going through the process of restarting their practices," he said, adding later that these sessions come at a time when many states are be- ginning to loosen restrictions. He also noted the discus- sion with Scott Gottlieb, MD, former head of the FDA, who Dr. Mamalis said will likely offer valuable insights into this process. "The virtual meeting will also have the usual tremendous education that goes on at the ASCRS Annual Meeting," Dr. Mamalis said, mentioning that it even has a virtual exhibit hall for attendees to interact with industry representatives. continued on page 4 continued on page 3 Thoughts from outgoing ASCRS President Nick Mamalis, MD Incoming ASCRS President Terry Kim, MD, speaks about current situation and what ASCRS is doing to address this ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ASCRS UNCHES VIRTUAL CME SERIES P. 17 FOR SURGEONS. FOR YOU. WWW.EYEWORLD.ORG AUGUST 2020 VOLUME 25, NUMBER 6 SUPPLEMENT TO EYEWORLD AUGUST 2020 ASCRS by Vance Thompson, MD Turning the Lights Back On Supported by Alcon Ophthalmology as a medical specialty has been hit hard in the COVID-19 pandemic, and ophthalmic practices have just started to regain their sea legs, figuring out how to steady themselves amid the safety concerns, financial hardships, and other unknowns. The 2020 ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting, which took place May 16–17, featured a two-part special session, Turning the Lights Back On supported by Alcon, to specifically address the unique challenges and opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic presents to ophthalmology. This resource features key content from this session and additional thoughts from notable physicians. P resbyopia patients, even in this COVID-era environment, want to hear about all of the solutions for implant technol- ogy during cataract surgery. In fact, they seem, in my experience, to be even more interested now. We've been amazed at our practice because since reopening for elective surgery, the adoption rate for pre- mium implants has actually been higher than pre-COVID. People seem eager to invest in themselves and their true desires, so they've been open to premium implants, and refractive surgery has been quite popular. Since the ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting in May, we've seen a significant return in volume. We're back to about 90% of normal, pre-COVID patient volume, and that hap- pened faster than I predicted. Will it be sustainable? That's what we all wonder. what you can do remotely and explain what you can't. The patient journey at our practice has shifted somewhat. Before the pandemic, infor- mation was mailed to patients prior to cataract consulta- tions. They were encouraged to watch an informational video, which many didn't do ahead of time. Now, in order to even set up a telehealth cataract consult, patients have to watch the video. The technician gathers information from the referring doctor for this telehealth visit, preparing a chart for the doctor as they would have if they had been in the office. If a decision is made for an IOL type during the telehealth visit, patients are reminded that this IOL selection could change on surgery day based on certain factors. With so much happening remotely, by the time we get to the surgery day, we're just double checking the numbers, doing the exam and final counseling, then going into surgery. Enhanced safety measures for in-office and OR visits Bringing back refractive cataract surgery Spacing out or blocking chairs in the waiting room and during counseling is one way to help reduce potential exposure among patients and staff. Source: Vance Thompson, MD, screenshot from the 2020 ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting continued on page 2 While we haven't changed how we counsel patients or how we present them with premium IOL options, there is no question, some elements of "normal" clinic practice have changed—they had to. In the new "normal," pa- tients are very open to remote telemedicine and consults, enabling the doctor to educate them about cataracts and op- tions using existing education- al resources. Advanced testing and the examination, of course, can't currently be done remotely. Patients just want you to do your best. Explain

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