Abstract
Purpose :
To describe Ocular Oncology exposure among vitreoretinal fellowship trained surgeons in the USA during Ophthalmology residency and fellowship training.
Methods :
An elective, anonymous 17-question survey was sent to 143 surgeons who completed fellowship within the last 10 years. 46 responses were collected from August 2017 to April 2018.
Results :
86.5% of survey participants completed Ophthalmology residency in the USA and 97.3% completed Vitreoretinal fellowship in the USA. 43.2% of training programs had an Ocular Oncology attending, 51.4% provided exposure to Ocular Oncology clinic, and 48.6% provided exposure to Ocular Oncology surgery. In terms of time spent in an Ocular Oncology clinic, 45.9% spent no time, 16.2% spent days, 10.8% spent weeks, 19.0% spent months, and 8.1% spent a different specified amount of time during training. During residency training, 59.4% placed or helped place no radioactive plaques, 18.9% placed 1 to 3 plaques, 8.1% placed 4 to 6 plaques, 2.7% placed 7 to 9 plaques, 2.7% placed 10 to 20 plaques, and 5.4% placed >20 plaques. Only 5.4% were ever the primary surgeon for plaque placement during residency. During fellowship training, 54.1% placed no plaques, 10.8% placed 1 to 3, 8.1% placed 10 to 20, and 27.0% placed >20 plaques. 67.6% had no cases, 10.8% 1 to 3, 5.4% 4 to 6, 5.4% 7 to 9, 5.4% 10 to 20, and 5.4% had >20 as primary surgeon. 43.2% were satisfied with Ocular Oncology exposure during fellowship. 5.4% will go on to pursue Oncology fellowship. 54.1% feel comfortable seeing Ocular Oncology patients in clinic after their Vitreoretinal fellowship, and 29.7% feel comfortable treating patients with radioactive plaques.
Conclusions :
More than 45% of trainees spent no clinic time and had no experience with radioactive plaque surgery cases in residency or fellowship. Those trainees exposed to Ocular Oncology clinic and surgery cases, varied significantly. After training, less than half were satisfied with their exposure, slightly over half felt comfortable seeing clinic patients in Ocular Oncology, and a minority were comfortable with treating patients with radioactive plaques. Many American training programs lack adequate Ocular Oncology training, and most graduates desire more exposure.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.