Academic ophthalmologists are expected to be effective teachers and yet few receive any formal instruction on how to teach. Ophthalmology program directors in the United States also had to comply with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) general competencies, which were mandated about 10 years ago. In 2003, Dr. Andrew Lee organized the first Educating the Educators (EE) meeting, which was held in Iowa City. The goal of the meeting was to provide ophthalmology program directors with more formal instruction on how to teach and assess their residents. Specifically, the ACGME competencies were addressed and plans to meet the ACGME mandate were discussed. The author organized the second EE meeting held in 2004 in Cincinnati. The goals were similar to the first meeting: (1) elevate the fund of knowledge of the participants regarding medical educational science; (2) provide didactic information on adult learning principles, curriculum design, learning objectives, and the basics of the teaching vocabulary; and (3) develop and disseminate potential competency assessment tools for testing in the field.
The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) had been discussing methods to improve education globally. In 2004, the author was approached by the ICO to help organize an Ophthalmology Program Directors’ meeting aimed at “educating the educators” regarding adult learning principles, curriculum development, teaching skills, and assessment techniques. An educational needs assessment specific to the host country or region is done prior to designing the meeting’s agenda. Endorsement by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO), and other supranational organisations has lent credibility to these meetings. Endorsement by the host country’s national ophthalmology society is also crucial for success.
These meetings employ a variety of teaching methods, including traditional didactic lecture, small group breakout sessions, and large group discussion. Participant participation is crucial for success. Topics include curriculum development, improving teaching skills, methods of assessment, and becoming a good doctor: beyond medical knowledge and surgical skill. Thus far, meetings have been held in Mexico City, Lima, Cairo, Lahore, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Addis Ababa, Portoroz, Florianopolis, Bogota, Bali, Beijing, Ankara, Xi’an, Hyderabad, Guangzhou, Crete, and Delhi. Approximately 1000 ophthalmic educators have participated. Meetings are being planned in 2012 in Helsinki, Nanjing, and Portorz.
Measures of success include many anecdotal reports from program directors who have returned to their institutions and implemented ideas from the course. More concrete examples of success include presentations from past meetings at the World Ophthalmology Congress in Hong Kong (2008) and the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology annual meeting in Cancun (2007). A program director group has been formed in Columbia where they continue to hold annual educational meetings.
As part of the ICO’s Refocusing Education initiative, a new type of meeting has been devised to reach all Ophthalmic Educators, including residents, medical students, and para-ophthalmic personnel. These meetings will cover educational material common to all educators and provide workshops to address educational issues relevant to different learner groups. Thus far, meetings have been held in Sydney prior to the APAO Congress and in Buenos Aires prior to the PAAO Congress. These meetings will continue to take place before every supranational ophthalmology meeting. The next meeting will be on April 12, 2012, prior to the APAO meeting in Busan, Korea.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper