A new vision for teaching ophthalmology in the medical curriculum

The Virtual Ophthalmology clinic

Abstract

The Virtual Ophthalmology Clinic (VOC) is an innovative Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) module, on which students can sharpen their history taking and clinical reasoning skills by formulating a diagnosis and management plan on virtual patients with simulated eye conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the VOC module, traditional modes of teaching, or some combination of the two is of greater educational effectiveness. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with The University of Sydney medical students attending their clinical ophthalmology rotation. Students were randomly divided and assigned into either an experimental or control group. Students in both groups underwent the traditional ophthalmology teaching, in addition, students in the experimental group were given access to VOC. A twenty-item multiple choice ophthalmic knowledge based pre- and post-test and student satisfaction questionnaire was administered. The results demonstrated that the pre- and post-test mean scores increased significantly in both the intervention and control groups, however, a greater improvement was seen in the intervention group. The within subject change (Post-Pre) was highly significant with the change observed in the intervention group being significantly larger than that observed in the control group. The VOC module was highly regarded and enthusiastically received. Based on a statistically significant improvement in academic performance and highly positive student feedback, the implementation of VOC in the revised ophthalmology curriculum may provide the most effective and efficient teaching within the University of Sydney Medical Program.