Comparative Effectiveness of Various Postgraduate Training Models in India for Ophthalmology

The study aimed to know ophthalmology resident doctors’ perception of their teaching programmes and various methods used in it and to help formulation of a well-structured teaching programme for ophthalmology.

We investigated ophthalmology resident doctors’ perceptions of their teaching programmes and of various methods used in them to formulate a well-structured programme for teaching ophthalmology. Pre-tested questionnaires were used to survey ophthalmology residents visiting our institution. We examined the mean number of procedures (outpatient, diagnostic and surgical) they had experienced, as well as educational and research activities. We also compared the experience obtained between the training models. Data were gathered from 45 residents from 30 institutions.

We found that a large number of resident doctors felt that their programmes were not comprehensive, with only 40% prepared to practise comprehensive ophthalmology at the end of the training programme. There was a discrepancy between the actual number of surgeries performed by the resident doctors and their perception of the number needed to master those surgeries. Phacoemulsification and non-cataract surgery training were neglected in most programmes. Educational and research activities were found to be inconsistent between the programmes.

Hence, according to the resident doctors, there is a need to improve and standardise residency programmes.