Purpose: To characterize listenership and perceived educational impact of the ophthalmic podcast “Eyes for Ears”.

Methods: A cross-sectional, internet-distributed, 9-question Qualtrics survey was made available to podcast listeners. Listenership metrics were analyzed from the podcast host platform.

Importance

Background

Purpose

Graduate medical education (GME) in ophthalmology has faced and overcome many challenges over the past years, and 2020 has been a game-changer. Although the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus pandemic disrupted medical education globally, ophthalmic educators rapidly transformed their curricula to novel and effective virtual learning formats.

How to introduce medical students to the skills and attitudes necessary to deal with happenstance is the central theme of this article. Planned Happenstance Learning Theory is an important principle in professional development in medical education.

The article highlights the associations with residents training at the residency program affiliated with their medical school and/or within the same geographic region as their medical school. This can be helpful in advising our medical students on where to apply.

The authors recognize the impact that AI will have on the practice of ophthalmology. Yet they acknowledge that many physicians are not knowledgeable about AI, especially the opportunities, potential pitfalls and the influence that it will have on daily practice. The authors review the current status of ophthalmology AI and give recommendations for designing an effective AI curriculum.

This paper reassesses the role of traditional lecture during dynamic times in medical education and in the context of the need for efficient education of medical students. The authors highlight the fact that students have access to many sources of information. They recommend incorporating extra institutional resources, micro lectures and lecturer training to optimize preclinical instruction in ophthalmology.

This paper offers twelve recommendations for novel approaches to integrating ophthalmology content into the undergraduate medical school curriculum. Includes strategies that employ social media and online resources.