Abstract
Purpose :
The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the educational value of a clinical immersion training program to teach the risk factors, clinical findings and management of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) to ophthalmology residents.
Methods :
This pilot study included six second-year ophthalmology residents at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, that participated in a 10-week clinical training program for retinopathy of prematurity. Prior to the rotation, residents were given a pre-test based on the ROP Case-Based Training modules developed by R.V. Paul Chan et al in 2015 on the American Academy of Ophthalmology website. Each resident spent one half-day per week with a pediatric ophthalmologist (SAS) on ROP rounds in the neonatal intensive care unit. The residents participated in scleral depressed exams and RetCam imaging in order to learn the staging and high-risk findings of ROP. The residents also assisted with treatments on high-risk infants including intravitreal bevacizumab and laser photocoagulation. After completion of the 10-week program, a post-test was administered with the same case-based training as the pre-test. Results of both tests were recorded for each resident.
Results :
The average pre-test score was 63.2% ± 15.3%. The average post-test score was 89.5% ± 4.3%. On average, the residents improved by 26.3% ± 16.2% when comparing pre-test scores with post-test scores. Anecdotally, residents overall felt more competent in diagnosing and recognizing different stages of ROP, including those infants at high risk for progression. Residents also became more proficient with scleral depressed exams.
Conclusions :
This study demonstrates that a clinically immersive experience with hands-on training can improve the diagnosis and management of ROP by residents and can contribute to a valuable learning experience in residency.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.