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Educational concerns and anxiety levels amongst ophthalmology trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic

How concerned are ophthalmology trainees about the present impact and the future consequences of suspended ophthalmic training programmes? Researchers in the West of Scotland investigate. Anxiety, stress and the longer-term stress reaction of burnout often go unrecognised, yet are known...

25 years of OCT

David Huang first described optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 1991, in his seminal paper on the subject in Science. This method developed the work of others on ophthalmic interferometry, which essentially showed that measuring reflected light could be used to...

Sustainability in eyecare: Intraocular gases and the climate emergency

In 2020 the NHS became the first national health system to commit to delivering ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2040. The author investigates how the impact of ophthalmic surgery can be reduced. Medical gases have been used in ophthalmic surgery...

The challenges of rural optometry and how independent prescribing has helped

Why move from a busy professional independent Aberdeen optometry practice over 200 miles to one of the most remote places in the United Kingdom? I could talk about the professional challenge of supporting a rural community, or the chance to...

“I can see fine. Why do I need my eyes tested?”

Are routine eye examinations really necessary? The author asks whether frequent appointments in low-risk patients with normal results are actually cost-effective. It’s recommended that most people should get their eyes tested every two years.” [1] This message is widely publicised...

Illuminating task lighting

Good lighting is always important but especially for patients who are visually impaired. Janet Pooley provides an overview. We tend to discuss lighting with patients when their vision is reduced, and where we are considering higher reading adds or low...

Meeting the needs of older patients in optics

Fiona Anderson discusses the important role of community-based eyecare practitioners in meeting the visual needs of ageing patients. It has been well documented that today we live for longer. Statistics show in 1997, around one in every six people (15.9%)...

The implementation of postoperative day 1 vitrectomy telephone follow-up consultations

In this pre-COVID-19 study, the authors argue that some follow-up consultations can be done by telephone without compromising patient safety. Thirty years ago, a study by Isernhagen et al. [1] found that 52% of patients required some form of unexpected...