Restoring Ophthalmology to the Mainstream Medical School Curriculum
2008, Volume 1, Number 2 62 Over the past four decades, academic ophthalmolo-gists have become increasingly segregated from main-stream medicine in the microcosms of their Eye Insti-tutes and outpatient clinics. Concurrently, representa-tion of Ophthalmology in the core curriculum of U.S. medical schools has steadily dwindled [1]. The 2007 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC ) curriculum management database ( CurrMit ) cor-roborates the results of a 2004 survey by the Associa-tion of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) (Haik, Hardy & Lippa, unpublished data): only eight US medical schools still required clinical rotations in Ophthalmology. Although 100% of schools offer an ophthalmology elective, only ap-proximately 25% of students take advantage of the opportunity to enroll [1; Lippa, in press]. As it stands, I believe that we are at risk of graduating a generation of non-ophthalmic physicians (i.e., fam-ily doctors, internists, emergency physicians, pediatri-cians, neurologists, and neurosurgeons) who may be oblivious to red flag ocular physical findings rele-vant to their practice of medicine. The result is not only late detection of eye disease, but also missed clues for the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of systemic illness as well. Multiple calls for reform have peppered the ophthalmic literature over this pe-riod [2-8], but until recently no tangible progress had been made. I was privileged to organize a symposium on Medical Education Reform at the 2006 annual AUPO meeting, during which the panel identified actionable items to effect real change. The goals were to: 1) restore re-spect for medical student educators; 2) provide a fo-rum to foster collaborative rather than isolated efforts to bolster ophthalmology representation in the medi-cal school curricula; and, 3) enlist the backing of an official group to formalize and legitimize this advo-cacy in the eyes of skeptical curriculum committees. The 2006 AUPO symposium proved to be a water-shed moment. The first outcome was the creation of an AUPO Medical Education Task Force, which pro-duced a practical list of basic core knowledge and skills deemed critical for the generic medical school graduate, one that could serve as a national standard. The recommendations were officially endorsed by the AUPO Board in the fall of 2007 and unanimously by the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in November, 2008. A list-serve of educators from the US and Canada was initiated and based at the University of Iowa. Under the auspices of the AUPO, the Consortium of Medical Student Educators (CMSE) was created, holding its inaugural meeting at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) in New Orleans. Out of that meeting, a website was born (www.cmse.ophed.com) to sustain activities between meetings. The website serves as a platform for shar-ing teaching materials, curriculum templates, and im-plementation strategies, as well as links to electronic resources and juried sites such as the AAMC MedEd-PORTAL. Further, it provides a mechanism by which medical student ophthalmology course directors and dedicated teachers can form collaborations for the development of on-line standardized patient cases, courses and share ideas for multi-center studies. In Restoring Ophthalmology to the Mainstream Medical School Curriculum Linda S.M. Lippa, MD 1* 1 Director of Ophthalmology Education, The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine, CA * Corresponding Author & e-mail: llippa@uci.edu Accepted for publication May 15, 2008 Revision received May 20, 2008 2008; 1:62-64 Available via open-access on the web at http://www.academic-ophthalmology.com The author(s) have no personal financial interest in any of the products or technologies cited herein. The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are strictly the personal views of the author and do not represent the opin-ions or positions of the ACGME, RRC, or any other organiza-tion. The contents of this editorial have not been reviewed or approved by any of the accrediting, certifying or credentialing bodies mentioned in this editorial. 2008