SETTING STANDARDS

Over 550 candidates from over 28 European countries converged on Paris to take part in the 2015 European Board of Ophthalmology Diploma (EBOD) examination.

“It has been another hugely successful examination and we thank all the candidates who came to Paris to sit this exam in record numbers this year,” said Prof Peter J Ringens MD, PhD, FEBO, President of the European Board of Ophthalmology.

Prof Ringens paid special thanks to the French Society of Ophthalmology (SFO), which hosts the exam every year in conjunction with its annual meeting, and also Laboratoires Théa, which has generously supported the EBOD exam since its inception.

Held every year in Paris, the EBOD examination is designed to assess the knowledge and clinical skills requisite to the delivery of a high standard of ophthalmic care both in hospitals and in independent clinical practices. The EBOD examination’s focus is also on harmonisation of ophthalmology training across Europe and is Brussels’ standard.

Addressing the assembled audience, Jean-Francois Korobelnik, President of the SFO, said that the society was honoured to host the exams every year.

“It is a more challenging situation every year because more candidates want to attend, but this surely means that the EBOD is a very valuable diploma and one that is recognised across Europe,” he said.

This year, for the first time, the exam also included a special subspecialty examination in glaucoma. Carlo Traverso, President of the European Glaucoma Society, which co-organised the EBO subspecialty exam, said that his society was gratified to be the first subspecialty to feature in the EBO exam.

“Subspecialty examinations are tricky because they are not recognised very easily and therefore our experiment required quite an effort, but I think it has been a very successful debut,” said Prof Traverso.

Congratulating the candidates on their achievement, Prof Christina Grupcheva, Chair of the EBO Education Committee, said that the examination was more than a simple test of knowledge.

“This is more than an exam, this is a way of harmonising education all over Europe, setting standards for knowledge and also standards for taking care of our patients,” she said.

This year, Katrin Franziska Fasler from Switzerland received the Alan Ridgway Award for best MCQs result, while the award for Best Overall EBOD outcome went jointly to Odysseas Georgiadis from Greece and Mehmet Mocan from Turkey.

Peter Ringens: p.ringens@mumc.nl