Eyeworld

EW INTERNATIONAL 138 March 2015 by Chiles Aedam R. Samaniego EyeWorld Asia-Pacific Senior Staff Writer information gap between more and less developed countries. "This will always remain a real challenge, and there is no simple solution," Dr. Yeo said. "Access to medical information should always be made readily available to all clini- cians and not just in more affluent countries." "Prevalence of digital media- based medical education is likely to depend on the availability of com- puters and free or low-cost Internet," Dr. Amano said. "Thus, infrastruc- ture for [the] Internet may be neces- sary for less developed countries." "Digital media is penetrating all countries, including those in the Asia-Pacific … yet, there are issues with Internet connections, and many regions still do not have con- tinuous access," Dr. Vasavada said. "In India, at least in the bigger cities, medical students are becoming more updated about advances in the West. The biggest hitch for less developed countries to keep pace with the latest is the access to the Internet as well as Internet connectivity issues." Dr. Vasavada, however, remains optimistic: "In not so distant times to come, I foresee global digital access." Scientific meetings On the surface, new media devalues physical presence, obviating the necessity of leaving your clinic or hospital. "As digital media-based resources increase, the importance of scientific meetings may decrease," Dr. Amano said. However, in real life, scientific meetings remain valuable for ophthalmologists. "Getting a lot of information at one time is the strong part of a scientific meeting," Dr. Amano said. "Moreover, discussions with other doctors and researchers face-to-face in scientific meetings are indis- pensable to enhance knowledge and motivation and links among researchers." Dr. Vasavada maintains "there is still a unique place for scientific meetings." "Personal interaction, as well as discussion and participation from the attendees, is something that is not possible to obtain from any very rapid pace of growth of new knowledge in areas of investigations and treatment makes the learning of medicine ever more challenging," said Ian Yeo, MD, associate profes- sor and senior consultant, vitreo- retinal service, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore. "What we the teachers know and what information we impart to the resident may not always be up to date and may add confusion to the learner. While we can say the basics of medicine have not changed," he said, "in reality the newer infor- mation available, especially from the myriad of very well-conducted clinical trials and epidemiological data, makes much of what we know obsolete unless we actively keep up to date." Publishers of medical literature, for their part, can now afford to be more careful about what they publish. "It is progressively difficult to perform small-scale research or to publish anecdotal reports; journals are much more discerning of the information they want [to publish]," Dr. Yeo said. "This is good for the reader as we want to be sure that what we read has been peer reviewed and is meaningful for consumption. The importance of research is self evident; we would not progress to where we are today without the spirit of inquiry or the urge to do better for the patient." The patients themselves con- stitute a whole new front in terms of challenging their doctors to do better. "Patient expectations have changed, too, and they expect their doctors to be up to date," Dr. Yeo said. "We have to be, as patients come armed with information they have garnered from sources like the Internet." Economy and education The New Media Age is not all uto- pian—one of the more troubling aspects of the current era is the disappearance of the middle class, creating the widest gap between the classes in human history, in one way manifesting in the global ophthalmological community as an ogists from all over the world to interact with each other, sometimes even in real time, to provide up- dates on the latest techniques and technologies. "Everyone now has much better access to the basic and clinical research being conducted in the world," Dr. Vasavada said. "While this is useful to all surgeons, it is particularly relevant in countries that previously had limited access to international updates and where financial as well as other constraints often did not allow the ophthalmol- ogists to frequently attend interna- tional meetings." Reinvigorating research The same technology that has improved access has engendered a torrential flow of information. "More and more young ophthal- mologists, even those in solo private practices, are now taking up clinical research, a trend that was practical- ly nonexistent back when I started my practice," Dr. Vasavada said. "There is much better access and exposure to research right from the early stages of medical education. A lot of emphasis is being given by ophthalmic certification bodies as well as societies to publications and research work." Dr. Vasavada himself has "al- ways had a special passion for basic and clinical research related to the lens in particular," leading him to establish ICIRC in 1991. Through the center, Dr. Vasavada and his col- leagues have since made important contributions, publishing on topics such as posterior capsule opacifica- tion and pediatric cataract surgical techniques and outcomes. "Recently, guidelines for di- agnosis and treatment for various diseases have been made based on evidence with high reliability such as randomized clinical trials [RCT], and daily clinical treatments are ruled by these guidelines," said Shiro Amano, MD, PhD, consul- tant, Inouye Eye Hospital, Tokyo. "Thus, the importance of such research as RCT is increasing." This reinvigoration of scientific research does pose some challenges, for teachers and students alike. "The Current technology has significantly altered the way we interact with information, and so also the way we teach, learn, and innovate "M edical edu- cation has changed a lot since the days when I was a medical student," said Abhay Vasavada, MD, director of the Iladevi Cataract & IOL Research Centre (ICIRC), Raghudeep Eye Clinic, Ahmedabad, India. "With the advent of the Internet and easy accessibility of online and offline re- sources, most things are only a click away. This has made it very easy for medical professionals, including ophthalmologists, to keep abreast of the ongoing advances in the field." Various online resources such as YouTube and Eyetube as well as forums, including those provided on the websites of international ophthalmology societies such as the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and the Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (APACRS), provide platforms for ophthalmol- M edical education has never been easier to access. This has had the largest impact on developing countries around the world. Videos of the latest techniques are posted and imme- diately available to view. Online training has changed the way we learn, and it has catalyzed the cycle of innovation. In this article, EyeWorld explores some of the issues surrounding the new media age and its impact on physicians around the world. John A. Vukich, MD, international editor Ophthalmic education in the New Media Age International outlook

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