As a physician, you can choose among hundreds of online resources designed to help you in practice and training. YO Info’s 2018 editorial board shares some of the best apps and tools they’ve found, along with a few pro tips.
1. IOL calculators
I love the Barrett Universal II and Barrett Toric for IOL calculations. They are great not only for the average patient eye, but also for eyes with unusual axial lengths or keratometry. You can also use them without having to apply post-measurement corrections or adjustments. The toric axis is consistently spot on!
–Jason D. Rupp, MD
2. Diagnostic and treatment reference
The Eye Handbook app serves as your virtual call bag. You can use it for acuity testing, fixation targets for children, color vision testing and more. It also offers access to an atlas of ophthalmic photographs, a quick-reference manual, calculators for glaucoma risk as well as conversion to and from logMAR. A new feature is an online forum where you can post pictures and ask questions on a variety of topics. And it’s all free!
–Victoria H. Yom, MD
3. Surgical videos
One key element to training is to see as many diagnostic challenges and therapeutic approaches as possible. Eyetube offers just that — a variety of perspectives in every ophthalmic subspecialty via free digital access to more than 3,000 online surgical videos. In addition to this archive, EyeTube also provides online symposia, roundtable discussions and interactive discussion boards as well as multimedia related to practice management.
—James G. Chelnis, MD
YouTube is perfect for watching surgical videos before cases. It gives you a growing library of ophthalmology videos at your fingertips. You can watch experts perform complicated cataract extractions, for example, or learn the basic ins and outs of procedures in every subspecialty.
—Andrea A. Tooley, MD
4. OKAP prep
OphthoQuestions is a comprehensive question bank specifically designed to help you prepare for the Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program exam, the American Board of Ophthalmology Written Qualifying Examination, the Demonstration of Ophthalmic Cognitive Knowledge and a number of other ophthalmology-related tests. Questions are created and vetted by board-certified ophthalmologists and trainees who are familiar with exam prep. I try to answer OphthoQuestions on my phone throughout the day, and then I review them later when I have more study time!
— Dr. Tooley
5. Study flashcards
With the Quizlet Flashcards app, you can create and share your own flashcards, charts, images and figures or choose from millions of student-created study sets. It’s such a fun learning tool for trainees and a great way to study during residency because there are tons of decks based off of the Academy’s Basic and Clinical Science Course.
—Dr. Tooley
6. Glaucoma forum
The American Glaucoma Society’s online forum is a great member-only resource for sharing realistic, clinically useful info between glaucoma specialists. Discussions range from ongoing timeless debates to the latest cutting-edge discoveries. Not a member? No problem! Users often post questions routed from non-member colleagues who want to initiate a particular conversation.
—Jiaxi Ding, MD
7. Plaquenil dosing
When evaluating a patient’s risk for plaquenil toxic maculopathy, you need to take dose into consideration. Doses above 5.0 mg/kg actual body weight are cited as being a major risk factor for the progression to vision loss. The DoseChecker app is a fast way to calculate recommended dosing and help direct meaningful recommendations to primary care physicians.
—Nathaniel Roybal, MD
8. Note-taking
You have an external brain in your pocket at all times with your smartphone or tablet. My external brain relies on Notability. You can use this app to keep track of notes during each and every lecture throughout your residency. You can also record voices, import pictures from slides, highlight, draw and search your notes for keywords. There’s also a desktop version that syncs with the mobile version. I still use the app in meetings today!
—Evan Silverstein, MD ( designer of the 9Gaze and eyeTilt apps )
9. Fundus photos
I love using my smartphone to obtain fundus photos. By holding up a condensing lens, you can use your phone as an indirect ophthalmoscope. The Ullman Indirect app allows you to adjust the light on your phone and obtain either burst photos or a video of the patient’s fundus. This tool is great for late-night consults to the retina fellow or attending.
—Dr. Silverstein
10. Phenotype detection
With Face2Gene, you can take a picture of a patient that appears to have a dysmorphology, and the app will send you a suggested list of relevant syndrome matches. It’s a great way to detect phenotypes from facial photos using your smartphone.
—Dr. Silverstein
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About the authors:
James G. Chelnis, MD, is an oculoplastics and reconstructive surgery attending at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. He completed his American Society of Oculoplastic and Reconstructive Surgery training at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee. He has been on YO Info’s editorial board since 2012 and became chair in 2017.
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Jiaxi Ding, MD, is a glaucoma specialist at Carolina Eye Associates, a large multispeciality ophthalmology group in North Carolina. She completed her glaucoma fellowship at the University of Iowa and residency training at SUNY Buffalo. She joined the YO Info editorial board in 2016.
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Nathaniel Roybal, MD, PhD is in practice at Eye Associates of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He completed his residency at UCLA and vitreoretinal fellowship at the University of Iowa. He joined the YO Info editorial board in 2017.
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Jason D. Rupp, MD, is a glaucoma and advanced anterior segment surgeon in private practice at Clarus Vision Clinic in Salt Lake City. Dr. Rupp completed his residency and fellowship training at Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the YO Info editorial board in 2016.
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Evan Silverstein, MD, is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and associate residency program director at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Dr. Silverstein completed his residency at Vanderbilt University and a pediatric and adult strabismus fellowship at Duke University. He is the owner of See Vision, LLC, which distributes free ophthalmology apps, including 9 Gaze — an app for documenting strabismus and eye motility— and eyeTilt — an app for determining how many degrees someone’s head is tilted. Dr. Silverstein joined the YO Info editorial board in 2017.
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Andrea A. Tooley, MD, is a fourth-year resident at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. This July, Dr. Tooley will start an oculoplastics fellowship at Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital/Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery-New York University Medical Center in New York City. She joined the YO Info editorial board this year.
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Victoria H. Yom, MD, is a cornea specialist at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Yom completed her residency at the Washington University School of Medicine. She joined the YO Info editorial board this year.
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