The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residents: A Narrative Review.

The ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically affected medical societies. We aim to provide an overview and summarize the information published so far concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmology residency programs and the mental wellbeing of trainees, and to establish factors to help maintain successful residency training to ensure high-quality, specialist ophthalmic training. A literature search was conducted in October 2021 of the PubMed database for articles assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of ophthalmology trainees and on ophthalmology residency programs. Cross-sectional survey studies, editorials, articles in scientific journals, letters to editors, and commentaries were considered; finally, 19 studies were included after excluding abstract-only publications and conference posters. The studies' demographic details, participant characteristics, interventions, outcomes, and limitations were extracted. Our summarized information showed the alarmingly significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmology trainees' mental health and the associated considerable changes in ophthalmic training programs. Thus, in future, virtual training and surgical simulators should be permanently introduced, in addition to traditional teaching, to complete successful ophthalmology residency programs. Additionally, we emphasize the need for a widely facilitated and encouraged access to psychological support programs for healthcare workers, including ophthalmologists.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmic specialist training in Poland.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on ophthalmology residency training in Poland. An anonymous self-administered online survey involving polish ophthalmology residents was conducted between February 15 and 28, 2021. Of the 126 residents who completed the survey, 88.9% (n = 112) and 89.7% (n = 113) felt that the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted their surgical training and overall training programs, respectively. Trainees providing care to patients with COVID-19 and female trainees indicated a greater negative impact of the pandemic on the implementation of the specialization program (p = 0.008 and p = 0.015, respectively) and on the acquisition of practical skills (p = 0.014 and p = 0.021, respectively). Approximately 94% (n = 118) of the residents surveyed participated in virtual training during the pandemic, and 99.2% (n = 124) positively assessed the content and usefulness of online teaching in everyday clinical practice. The most common platforms used for online meetings were Zoom (62.7%, n = 79) and Microsoft Teams (50.8%, n = 64). Approximately 79% (n = 99) of residents believed that, after the pandemic is over, at least some of the training courses and conferences should be conducted online. In addition, 13.5% (n = 17) of residents reported that they would like to undergo training and specialization courses in virtual form only after the pandemic is over. In summary, the present findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the implementation of the ophthalmology specialization program in Poland, with the greatest impact on surgical training. Trainees providing care to patients with COVID-19 are more likely to negatively assess the impact of the pandemic on the training process. Replacing traditional training with virtual methods was positively received by residents and considered very useful, and most residents reported a desire to maintain virtual training in ophthalmology in the future.