World's Largest Online Ophthalmic Resource Marks Five-Year Milestone
CHICAGO – November 9, 2012 – The American Academy of Ophthalmology is marking five years of providing sight-saving, clinical knowledge through the Ophthalmic News & Education ONE® Network. Since its launch in 2007, the site has become the world's most comprehensive ophthalmic education resource, having been accessed by more than 75,000 ophthalmologists and ophthalmic residents from nearly every country around the globe. The growth of the ONE Network is being highlighted in various sessions at the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, jointly conducted this year with the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.
To address the fact that 80 percent of blindness around the world is preventable with proper, timely diagnosis and treatment, the Academy created the ONE Network to bring the latest medical advancements, state-of-the-art educational tools and clinical resources to ophthalmologists throughout the world. The information provided to physicians through the one-of-a-kind online learning center has made an impact on patient care across the globe.
The ONE Network has achieved a number of milestones over the past five years, including:
- Launching of the Academy's Master Class series, a collection of clinical education videos featuring world-renowned ophthalmologists
- Creating the FemtoCenter, an all-in-one resource for the latest news on the laser that is changing ophthalmology
- Providing access to every international ophthalmic society and creating a text-only version of the site for countries with low-bandwidth
- Adding content in Spanish, Arabic, French, Greek, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese
- Being honored for its impact on global health with the American Society of Association Executives' Make a Better World Award
"The ONE Network is the pinnacle of online ophthalmic education," said David W. Parke II, M.D., CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "The Academy is proud to bring this important resource to so many of the world's ophthalmologists. We are continuing to add new content and functionality, in addition to working with ophthalmic societies around the world to provide greater access to the clinical information they need to provide the best possible care to the patients they serve."
The global reach of the ONE Network allows physicians to provide optimal care to countless people with vision-threatening eye diseases and conditions. Currently, more than one-third of the world's ophthalmologists are using the ONE Network. Importantly, access to the ONE Network is provided to ophthalmologists in developing countries where ophthalmic education resources are often scarce – regardless of their ability to pay.
"I had a patient with a complication that I had never seen before," said Ronnie Bhola, MBBS, an ophthalmologist from Trinidad and Tobago. "I went to the ONE Network, where I was able to find a video of a patient who had almost an identical problem. This was a really tricky case that I was able to solve because I had access to this great medical resource."
The ONE Network allows users to earn continuing medical education and continuing professional development credits through more than 60 interactive courses and cases. It also helps U.S. ophthalmologists prepare for exams that are required to maintain their certification. These targeted tools and information, along with more than 110 self-assessment tests and 740 clinical videos, help sharpen ophthalmologists' total knowledge base. It offers them a wide range of clinical education tools that include surgical videos, instructional podcasts, practice guidelines and a central place to share resources with peers.
Learn more about the ONE® Network by visiting www.aao.org/one.
The 116th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology is in session November 10-13 at McCormick Place in Chicago. It is the world's largest, most comprehensive ophthalmic education conference. More than 25,000 attendees and 500 companies gather each year to showcase the latest in ophthalmic education, research, clinical developments, technology, products and services. This year's meeting is being held jointly with the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. To learn more about the place Where All of Ophthalmology Meets, visit https://www.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons — Eye M.D.s— with more than 32,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit www.aao.org The Academy's EyeSmart® program educates the public about the importance of eye health and empowers them to preserve healthy vision. EyeSmart provides the most trusted and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. OjosSanos™ is the Spanish-language version of the program. Visit www.geteyesmart.org or www.ojossanos.org to learn more.