Reworking protocols of ophthalmic resident surgical training in the COVID-19 era – Experiences of a tertiary care institute in northern India

PURPOSE: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted medical professionals in all fields of medicine and surgery in their academic, clinical and surgical training. The impact of surgical training has been described as ‘severe’ by most ophthalmology residents worldwide due to their duties in COVID-19 wards, disruption of outpatient and camp services. METHODS: Ophthalmic surgery demands utmost accuracy and meticulousness. Fine motor proficiencies, stereoscopic skills and hand–eye coordination required can only be achieved by practice. So, a multileveled structured wet-lab teaching schedule was prepared for the residents and implemented to bridge this gap between theory and practice at our tertiary care institute. A semester-wise training schedule was made with the proper distribution of wet-lab and simulator training. Surgeries like phacoemulsification, scleral buckling, pars plana lensectomy and vitrectomy, trabeculectomy and intravitreal injections were practised by the residents on the goat eyes. Simulator training was provided for phacoemulsification and vitrectomy to increase the hand–eye coordination of the residents. RESULTS: Residents noticed improvement in their surgical skills and ambidexterity post wet-lab and simulator training . It also increased their confidence and provided essential surgical skills required to be used in the operation theater later. CONCLUSION: It is imperative that wet-lab training be included in the residency training programme in this COVID-19 era.