EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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EW FEATURE 42 by Maxine Lipner EyeWorld Senior Contributing Writer managing astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery. "I think clinicians can use the data to decide if they are at the average, if they are on the cut- ting edge, or if they are well behind in comparison to the other people taking the survey, which represents our membership and our attendees," Dr. Holland said. The way education is ultimately metered out to bring those prac- titioners who need it up to speed has evolved over the years. "I think especially younger physicians don't want to sit in an auditorium and hear lecture after lecture," Dr. Holland said. "I think you have to provide the information in a variety of ways." An assortment of educational formats is what the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Con- gress attempts to provide. "We have symposia that use the ASCRS Clinical Survey information," he said. "Then we have interactive sessions at our meetings." In addi- tion, there are general sessions with keynote speakers who highlight a particular topic or a summary of a body of work. These include the Binkhorst Lecture and the If you build it, they will come The changing face of medical education December 2014 The latest on creating data-driven education programs T here was a time when edu- cational programs were rel- atively randomly developed around a topic thought to be of interest. These days, however, a lot of conscious planning goes into creating meetings, accord- ing to Bonnie An Henderson, MD, clinical professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston. "Educa- tion programs are being developed more deliberately than they were before," Dr. Henderson said. Nowa- days, program coordinators are more apt to find gaps in knowledge or ed- ucational demands of the audience first and then build the program around those key areas. "Big data" is the hot topic in many industries, she continued. "Since our society is technology- driven and powerful data-mining tools are available, there are many ways we can use the data to improve outcomes," she said. "For ophthal- mology, this means we can create surveys to gain insight into what ophthalmologists want to learn and use this data to plan a focused agenda." Identifying educational gaps In considering such data, all eyes are focused on educational gaps. "Usu- ally an educational gap is defined as a practice that is deemed to be out of date based on the current recom- mendations," Dr. Henderson said. "This encompasses both medical and surgical treatment." She cited the ASCRS Clinical Survey as a valuable tool. "The sur- vey is sent to the members of ASCRS and then, based on the replies, additional symposia or courses are planned for the following year," Dr. Henderson said. "In this manner, the content is more applicable to those doctors who plan to attend." Richard A. Lewis, MD, the current ASCRS president, agreed that the ASCRS Clinical Survey provides pivotal information in planning the annual meeting. "We survey our membership and try to figure out what a reasonable goal would be in terms of clinical delivery," Dr. Lewis said. "Usually it's related to surgery and what the expectations are for the outcomes." In the ASCRS Clinical Survey, practitioners may be asked, among other things, what they expect residual astigmatism to be. If, for example, members say they are attaining results with about 1 D of astigmatism, while the evidence sug- gests that such residual astigmatism should be no more than 0.25 D, this becomes an area to hone in on, Dr. Lewis said. "We say, 'There's a 0.75 D difference; how can we educate our members to achieve the expected outcome?'" This is a far cry from 30 years ago when modest slide presentations were the order of the day, Dr. Lewis said. "It used to be a simple lecture, and now the delivery of education is so broad," he said, adding that education now encompasses social media, as well as email and more. With the Internet, there is no limit to what is available, with access to education 24/7. Edward J. Holland, MD, pro- fessor of ophthalmology, University of Cincinnati and ASCRS program chair, indicated that in addition to identifying gaps in education and topics of potential interest that have not been covered, sometimes surveys can be used to kick off an educational session. They can be used as a benchmark for the audience, he explained, letting them know where they are in terms of sur- gical technique or perhaps a practice management pattern compared to their colleagues. For example, with the ASCRS Clinical Survey, this may indicate how many clinicians are AT A GLANCE • Today's symposia focus largely on educational gaps. • Society survey results can spur an idea for a session and also serve as a benchmark for some to see if their techniques are mainstream. • Post-session questionnaires can help determine whether an education gap has been filled or needs to be tackled again at a later date.