The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Education

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate the theoretical, practical, and academic effects of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on ophthalmology residents.
METHODS: The web-based survey consisting of 28 questions was sent through Email to 37 educators who provides res-ident training. We divided the pandemic period into three, according to the severity of the pandemic and the measures, compared with pre-pandemic period (PreP), separately. Between March 2020 and June 2020 was named as P1, June 2020–October 2020 was named as P2, and October 2020–March 2021 was named as P3.
RESULTS: Responses received from 35 centers (17 university hospitals, 18 training and research state hospitals). There were totally 458 residents in the hospitals. Two hundred and forty-six of them (53.71%) worked on COVID-19 duties, with an average working time of 69.57 days. There were significant decreases in the number of patients examined by res-ident doctors and theoretical training time in the P1, P2, and P3 periods compared to PreP (p<0.05 for all). Furthermore, in terms of the total number of surgeries in clinics and surgeries performed by residents, there were significant decreases in P1 and P2 compared to PreP (p<0.001 for both), but there was no significant difference in P3 (p=0.109). In the exami-nations held in the clinic, in the 1st year of the pandemic, the grade average was lower than before the pandemic (p<0.05). Seventeen residents (3.74%) resigned or moved to another hospital.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the theoretical, practical, and academic training of ophthal-mology residents.