APAO 2018 in Hong Kong included several special events and sessions for young ophthalmologists. Three YOs who attended share their favorite pearls from the meeting: how to enhance your surgical skill and plan events for your colleagues.
How to Master Surgery
1. Track down institutional support. Find a mentor who will guide you through the often-rocky learning process.
–Simon Fung, MA (Oxon), BMBCh, FRCOphth
2. See many surgeries. Be sure to familiarize yourself with as many procedures as possible. Whether it be peer-reviewed literature, surgical videos or live surgery, you want to learn as many tips and tricks as possible from experienced hands.
–Dr. Fung
3. Perform many surgeries. Practice makes perfect! Simulators, dry labs and wet labs are useful for everything from basic microsurgical skills to complex procedures and will make a positive impact on your surgical dexterity.
–Dr. Fung
4. Teach many surgeries. Educate yourself as well as others! By recording and watching your own surgery, you can improve any problem areas when a situation becomes tricky. And by sharing your experience with colleagues, you’ll develop a deeper level of understanding that can really accelerate your learning.
–Dr. Fung
How to Develop YO Events for Peers
5. Find a common goal. Target those aspects of ophthalmology that your colleagues and peers are excited about and build your event around that passion.
–Marcus Ang, MBBS, MMed(Ophth), MCI, FAMS, FRCS(Ed)
6. Don’t go solo. Gather a team and organize your event together … you can never do it alone!
–Dr. Ang
7. Build something new. Make the event a game-changer. Your activity should result in a new YO program, for example, or should augment or improvement existing services for YOs.
–Dr. Ang
8. Attend meetings abroad. International relationships are critical to the success of ophthalmology and are tremendously influential in how we can organize our young careers. The education and pearls of wisdom that we learn from our international colleagues allow us to better serve our patients back home — and also better serve our colleagues in training and in practice.
–Darby D. Miller, MD
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About the authors: Marcus Ang, MBBS, MMed(Ophth), MCI, FAMS, FRCS(Ed), is a consultant at the Singapore National Eye Centre, a graduate of the APAO Leadership Development Program and a participant in the Academy’s 2018 LDP class. He has helped plan multiple YO events at APAO’s annual meeting. Simon Fung, MA (Oxon), BMBCh, FRCOphth, is an assistant professor of pediatric ophthalmology and corneal and external diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles, and editor of the European Society of Ophthalmology’s YO newsletter. Darby D. Miller, MD, MPH, is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic, a member of the Academy’s YO Advocacy Subcommittee and president-elect of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology.