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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Academic Ophthalmology 2022; 14(01): e110-e119
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1741461
Research Article

Factors Affecting Ophthalmology Trainees to Pursue Vitreoretinal Surgery Fellowship

John R. O'Fee
1   USC Roski Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
,
Nadim Rayess
2   Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California
,
Carolyn K. Pan
2   Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California
,
Brian C. Toy
1   USC Roski Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
› Author Affiliations Funding No financial support was received.
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Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to understand the factors that ophthalmology trainees consider in pursuing vitreoretinal surgery (VRS) fellowship training.

Methods This is a prospective observational survey study. Survey invitations were disseminated to postgraduate year 4 (PGY)-4 ophthalmology residents at Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency programs and surgical retina fellows at Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology Fellowship Compliance Committee-compliant fellowship programs in the United States. Survey questions on factors related to VRS were administered employing a 5-point Likert scale. Responses from ophthalmology residents pursuing surgical retina were combined with surgical retina fellows' responses and compared with responses from PGY-4 residents not pursuing vitreoretinal surgery.

Results Eighty-one resident surveys were completed. Forty-three fellow surveys were completed. Fifty-seven out of eighty-one (70.4%) residents were not pursuing surgical retina, and a total of 67 trainees (24 residents, 43 fellows) were pursuing surgical retina. The following factors were associated with pursuing VRS training: male gender (p = 0.031); having performed retina research during residency (p ≤ 0.001); enjoying surgical retina procedures (p ≤ 0.001), enjoying surgical retina patient outcomes (p ≤ 0.001), and working with vitreoretinal surgeons (p ≤ 0.001); finding surgical retina prestigious (p ≤ 0.001); perceiving their residency having a strong record of matching surgical retina (p = 0.039); liking the potential financial income from surgical retina (p ≤ 0.001); and having vitreoretinal mentors during residency (p = 0.014). A majority of trainees (31/57, 54.4%) not pursuing surgical retina disagreed or strongly disagreed with enjoying the patient outcomes in surgical retina. A third of female residents not pursuing surgical retina felt having a female surgical retina mentor would have made them more likely to pursue the field.

Conclusion Longer retina rotations, encouraging resident participation in retina research, and increasing mentorship opportunities of female trainees from female retina specialists may increase resident interest in pursuing surgical retina fellowship.

Keywords

ACGME - surgical retina fellowship - vitreoretinal surgery - female mentorship

Meeting Presentations

Material in this manuscript was presented at the Women in Ophthalmology 2021 Summer Symposium at Amelia Island, Florida in August 26 to 29, 2021.




Publication History

Received: 26 April 2021

Accepted: 12 October 2021

Article published online:
10 March 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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