Abstract
Purpose:
There is no defined curriculum for residents to prepare for strabismus surgery. We describe and validate a web-based ophthalmology wet laboratory (web-based OWL) curriculum for extraocular muscle surgery for residents in training.
Methods:
A wet lab curriculum for strabismus surgery was developed by content experts and evaluated by residents who had not undergone a pediatric ophthalmology rotation. Web-based pre-tests and post-tests were administered. Anatomic knowledge and techniques of strabismus surgery were tested. Strabismus surgery techniques were taught using non-cadaveric models of eyes and included three stations: instrument identification, scleral pass technique and muscle isolation and suturing. Likert scale questionnaires were administered to assess the comfort level of residents before and after participation in the wet lab. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's T-test.
Results:
Seven residents participated in the testing of the curriculum. Average scores of the pre-test and post-test improved from 65.14% (Standard Deviation = 5.52) to 91.43% respectively (Standard Deviation = 11.87) (p=0.002). Resident comfort level significantly increased for passing scleral sutures (p=0.00083), isolating and suturing muscles (p=0.000038), and identifying instruments (p=0.00072).
Conclusions:
This web-based OWL curriculum for strabismus surgery may form the basis for successfully utilizing the wet laboratory to teach and assess aspects of resident extraocular muscle surgical competency prior to going to the operating room.
Keywords: 725 strabismus: treatment •
722 strabismus •
521 extraocular muscles: structure