Abstract
Purpose:
To assess to what degree emphasis is given to the teaching of screening skills for the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) disease during Ophthalmology residency training
Methods:
A nationwide survey of the residents of Ophthalmology involved in all the accredited mexican national system of residencies affiliated to 4 universities programs, that completed a 5-item questionnaire
Results:
We included 215 ophthalmology residents from 22 different institutions and 4 universities. According to the survey only 42% of the residents had access to neonatal intensive care units (NICU’s) and ROP screening programs, 37% answered they never received training how to screen for ROP during their 3 year residency. The average number of patients screened by residents during the 3-years program was 4.5 (range 0-130 patients), 90.2% answered that they have screened at least one patient potentially affected by ROP. Residency programs in ophthalmology centers with no access to NICU’s were more likely to not teach ROP screening skills
Conclusions:
The low emphasis on teaching screening skills for retinopathy of prematurity appears to have affected the ability of medical ophthalmology trainees to properly diagnose this potentially blinding disease. Given the recent and expected increase in the survival rate of premature babies, our study raises concern that the lack of ROP screening skills might contribute to a growing populations of affected infants
Keywords: 706 retinopathy of prematurity