Eye Care and the Medical Student: Where Should Emphasis Be Placed in Undergraduate Ophthalmology?

The views of three groups of British doctors on the content and duration of an undergraduate ophthalmology course were identified by means of a questionnaire. Non-ophthalmic hospital consultants considered the duration of a course should be approximately two weeks shorter than general practitioners and ophthalmologists. There were also significant differences in opinion between ophthalmologists and the other two groups on course content, but results indicated that emphasis should be placed on topics involving the identification of treatable sight-threatening conditions, and the primary eye care function of recognition and management of common external eye disorders.