Introduce online courses on glaucoma and neuro-ophthalmology for ophthalmologists
The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO), in partnership with DocMode, has introduced continuing education (CE) online courses on glaucoma and neuro-ophthalmology for ophthalmologists.
The online courses will aid practising ophthalmologists and optometrists in gaining reasonable understanding of the diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma and its management.
Besides, it will also facilitate competence in neuro-ophthalmic examination, diagnosis and management of common, critical and potentially extreme neuro-ophthalmic conditions amongst the patients.
“The e-learning will foster the participant in effectively recognising the normal and abnormal optic discs and characterise the abnormalities, describe diagnostic and management considerations for the most common optic neuropathies and also identify normal and abnormal pupil and be able to characterise pupillary abnormalities. He or she will easily be able to describe the basics of ocular motility examination and identify common ocular motility abnormalities.
“In addition, the courses will also allow the participant to describe an approach to a patient who has visual loss or symptoms but has a ‘normal’ examination and finally also describe and identify neuro-ophthalmic manifestation of common systemic diseases,” said Dr Karl Golnik, President, International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO).
“It has been estimated that by 2020, there will be approximately 80 million people with glaucoma, an increase of about 20 million since 2010. Primary open angle glaucoma is estimated to affect 6.48 million people. Equally, neuro-ophthalmic conditions have always been a concern, be it in India or elsewhere,” said Prof Dr S Natarajan, President, All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS).
In addition, people with diabetes have increased risk of glaucoma. India is home to 73 million persons living with diabetes of whom 58.4 per cent are unaware that they have diabetes. Population aged >20 years is known to be in the pre-diabetic state.
“With the lightening rate of development in the field of medical research and the booming amount of knowledge that this brings with it, learning is a continuous and lifelong process for junior and senior doctors alike. It is heartening to see the introduction of such highly-beneficial online courses for ophthalmologists that would help them to stay updated with recent advances in our science,” informs Prof Dr Natarajan.
“My dream project for the next five years is nationwide screening of diabetic retinopathy. I urge ophthalmologists across our country to support “STOP (Screening through Tele Ophthalmology in Prevention) Diabetic Blindness – Jyot Se Jyot Jalao” in improving eye care delivery in rural India,” Prof Dr Natarajan’s further added.
“We take pride in our association with ICO for the betterment of healthcare professionals. DocMode hopes that the CE courses for ophthalmologists will help them overcome the challenges in the field without much trouble,” said Paulson Paul, Founder and COO, DocMode.
“Glaucoma has a high prevalence in India. Poor patient awareness coupled with factors such as inadequate resident training and cost of medications make glaucoma an extremely dangerous condition with a large potential for causing irreversible visual impairment in millions of patients. By partnering with ICO, we expect that the courses for ophthalmologists will aid them prevail over the challenges related to training,” said Hans Lewis, Founder and CEO, DocMode.
In the next 3-4 months, DocMode- ICO partnership will witness a step further through the launch of more courses on subjects like dry eyes, cataract, infectious eye disease, managing posterior capsule rupture: vitrectomy techniques and strategies for the cataract surgeon, refractive surgery for the cataract surgeon: strategies and techniques using multifocal IOLs and also a glaucoma counselling course for counsellors.
Participating doctors will have access to both the courses on DocMode, a comprehensive and interactive e-learning platform. Participants would receive a certificate on completion of the course and passing the test of multiple-choice questions (MCQ).
The comprehensive course on primary open angle glaucoma is of 8-hour duration with 7 modules and around 12 hours with 6 modules for neuro-ophthalmology course.
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