Education for All Is What Makes ESCRS Unique

In a field as rich in innovation as ophthalmology, it is crucial for physicians to pursue continuous learning to improve their skills. Scientific societies such as the ESCRS bear the responsibility of offering educational opportunities not just during meetings but throughout the year.

“People join ESCRS [not only] to go to the Congress and the Winter Meeting but also because they want to have some learning in between,” says Oliver Findl MD, chairperson of the Education Committee and immediate past president of ESCRS.

The Education Committee deals with a wide range of educational activities for the Society: organising skill labs and courses at the meetings, offering online opportunities, and providing ESCRS members with useful instruments and tools to refine their expertise. According to Dr Findl, these educational activities aim to address the needs of every ophthalmologist, from young trainees to high-level experts who want information on a special surgical technique or new products. For example, the new guidelines on cataract and refractive surgery—a project Rudy Nuijts started two years ago—aim to give ophthalmologists a useful and unique tool that will also influence national health policies.

Apart from coordinating and reviewing all courses and didactic programmes about cataract and refractive surgery and optics offered during the Annual Congress, the Education Committee is dedicated to e-learning platforms (like iLearn) and oversees the CME accreditation. Online education became crucial during the COVID pandemic and is still widely used by members. Dr Findl says the goal is to offer an educational platform that brings all learning resources together, from podcasts to videos to interactive courses to ESCRS On Demand, so members can easily access them from one place.

“I think we are going to have a system on the platform that can give you some suggestions according to your focus or the things you are aiming for,” he explains. “The idea is really to provide something members can do the entire year to keep themselves on top of things.”

Committee success stories

Dr Findl is especially proud of the IOL Calculator, an interactive resource designed by the Education Committee that allows an ophthalmologist to enter biometry data and get all the information needed for the seven major online formulas. The calculator has been a huge success, with more than 500 users every day. ESCRS launched a toric calculator in 2023, and a working group is currently designing a post-refractive surgery calculator.

“It is something really special, and it is much better than the older times when you had to go to each of the calculators on different websites and re-enter the data,” he observes. “Now you can compare them directly.”

Another Education Committee project that has registered a lot of success is the moving simulator. After surveying all European countries, ESCRS realised that not all provide access to a surgical simulator.

“ESCRS bought a simulator and made it travel all over Europe, especially in countries where there is none,” he says. “Through a curriculum tailored by the ESCRS, people can use it for the first steps before starting surgery, and our sister national societies take care of the local logistics. We are receiving a lot of very positive feedback.”

Plans for the future

Wet labs, now called skill labs, could benefit from a renewal, and this is in the Education Committee’s plans for the future, Dr Findl says. With the use of artificial eyes for skill labs, it would be possible to improve the system of learning and training.

“We can record these labs and use the recordings to see what actually could be improved, the most common problems people have,” he says. “We could create a system where ophthalmologists can access these labs from elsewhere, needing just a small microscope and an artificial eye—not waiting for the Congress, where time is limited.”

The most important priority for the Education Committee, Dr Findl says, is to make the ESCRS one of the leading societies in the world for anterior segment surgery.

“The ESCRS is showing strong growth over the last 15–20 years, as demonstrated by the huge numbers attending the Congress,” he says. “This means the Society is an important point of contact for innovation and, most importantly, education.”