Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 50 March 2015 by Lauren Lipuma EyeWorld Staff Writer considered interference with patient flow and reduction in efficiency to be the biggest barrier, and lack of access to the technology to be the second. These results suggest that men are more skeptical of the clini- cal benefits of femtosecond laser cataract surgery, but women are more bothered by the reduction in surgical efficiency. In a separate question, the survey showed that men are more likely to operate in a surgeon-owned ASC, whereas women are more likely to operate in a hospital or hospital-owned ASC, so the fact that more women view access to the technology as a barrier could be because they are less likely to have input in decisions regarding technology adoption. This may be in part due to the concentration of women in the younger age groups— women may not yet have reached the practice or ASC ownership stage, Ms. Beiting said. According to the survey, female surgeons had almost a 30% lower volume in laser vision correction surgery, yet they have experienced much higher growth in surgical volume in the last 12 months than their male colleagues. Similar to technology access, this may be due to the fact that women are concen- trated in younger demographics. They report being more comfortable with the Internet and social media, saying that those are the primary drivers for new patients for their laser vision correction practices. When it comes to ocular surface disease, women are more likely to customize their artificial tear recom- mendations based on the patient's condition at all levels of dry eye. More than twice as many women favor advanced dry eye diagnostic tools such as osmolarity, MMP-9 testing, and tear film interferometry, and more women favor incorporat- ing these techniques at the point of care. Additionally, women value traditional diagnostic tools such as tear break-up time, corneal and con- junctival staining, and Schirmer's tests more highly than their male colleagues. Implications for the future Women's experience and clinical views differ in meaningful ways from that of their male colleagues, Ms. Beiting said, and as women will soon represent the largest propor- tion of ophthalmologists they ever have, that could mean changes to the way that certain ocular diseases are treated and in the way that new technologies are incorporated into practice. With residency and training expectations going unfulfilled from women's perspectives, there could be changes to the educational content of residency programs and post-res- idency training as female ophthal- mologists gain more experience and more of them enter professorships and teaching roles. Because 2014 is the first year that this data became available, the gender breakdown from the survey could serve as a benchmark for investigating this issue in the fu- ture, but in many ways it also raises more questions than it answers, Ms. Beiting said. Continuing the survey in the future can help to clar- ify some of these issues and identify future clinical trends. Professional societies, industry, and CME provid- ers in particular should pay atten- tion to these shifts in order to stay relevant to this changing audience, she said. EW Editors' note: Ms. Beiting has no finan- cial interests related to this article. Contact information Beiting: jan@wordsmithconsulting.com Changing demographics and clinical trends in ophthalmology Ophthalmology (WIO) Summer Symposium, Jan Beiting, board director of Ophthalmic Women Leaders (OWL), Kansas City, and co-chair of the OWL-WIO Pathway to the Podium task force, shared the results from the ASCRS Clinical Survey that showed the major areas where men and women have differ- ing opinions and practice patterns. When it came to education and training, women had higher expectations of their residency and more often said that their residency provided them with inadequate ex- perience. More women expected to be able to implant multifocal IOLs and perform laser vision correction in their residencies than their male counterparts. Among young physi- cians, women were less experienced at managing astigmatism with relax- ing incisions or toric IOLs. When asked about technology adoption, men were more likely to consider themselves early adopters of new technologies, and women were more likely to consider them- selves mainstream adopters. Looking at specific technologies —for example, femtosecond laser cataract surgery—both men and women face barriers to adopting the technology, but differ in how they rank those barriers. For men, the 2 biggest barriers were reimbursement or financial concerns and a desire to see more data showing clinical ben- efits. Women, on the other hand, T he 2014 ASCRS Clinical Survey revealed many key opinions and practice pat- terns among ASCRS mem- bers. In addition, the study provided insight into the changing demographics of ophthalmology and the differences in opinions and clinical trends between male and female physicians. Ophthalmology has long been a male-dominated specialty, but more women than ever are entering the field and shifting the gender break- down. According to the survey, the most experienced physicians—those with more than 30 years of experi- ence—are 92% male and 8% female. On the opposite side of the spec- trum, young physicians—residents, fellows, and those with up to 5 years in practice—are now 40% female and 60% male. The survey also revealed that women and men have different experiences and clinical perspec- tives in many situations. As a result, there are distinct gender differences in terms of clinical preferences and practice patterns in all ophthalmic specialties. As experienced physi- cians retire and the younger gener- ations take their place, the slow but significant demographic shift could signify major changes in clinical trends in the years ahead. Survey results Speaking at the 2014 Women In The growing number of female ophthalmologists could signify upcoming changes to trends in clinical practice

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