Undergraduate Ophthalmology Teaching in Saudi Arabia: Assessment, Analysis, and Comparisons

BACKGROUND: The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) considers ophthalmology a core curriculum subject for medical students. To date, there is no unified guideline assessing the efficacy of ophthalmology curricula in Saudi medical schools. Hence, we aimed to investigate the adequacy of undergraduate ophthalmology education in Saudi Arabia compared with the ICO guidelines. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire was distributed randomly to medical graduates in different Saudi medical schools. We reached 31 medical schools (public and private) in different regions of Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: From medical schools across Saudi Arabia, 317 participants were enrolled in the study. Our study outcomes followed the ICO guidelines in multiple areas, including having ophthalmology training during medical school (93.4%), ophthalmology course duration of 2 weeks (56.2%), necessary knowledge for patients’ referral (55.8%), competency in most basic ophthalmic skills, and participants receiving different teaching methods (theoretical lectures and clinical settings). In addition, 58.7% of the participants considered ophthalmology education a significant factor in choosing a future residency program. CONCLUSION: In our study, most Saudi medical schools followed the ICO guidelines, as numerous graduates are competent in many basic ophthalmic skills. A structured national guideline must be established to ensure that future general practitioners can deal with ophthalmic patients and to establish a Saudi gold-standard eyesight health program.