For nearly two decades, the three-part Essential Oculoplastics course has played an instrumental role in helping ophthalmology resident trainees at the University of Wisconsin—Madison (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health hone their craft.
At the UW, ophthalmology residents complete a one-year internship with the Department of Medicine, followed by three years of specialty training with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. During the first year of their ophthalmology residency, learners spend the majority of their time in the UW Health Eye Clinic, where they develop proficiency in all areas of the ophthalmologic examination. The second and third years of residency provide training in all aspects of ophthalmic surgery and various subspecialty areas, including oculoplastics.
A crucial component to the oculoplastics curriculum is the Essential Oculoplastics skills transfer course. The three-year cycle of coursework is intended to teach residents the essential components of oculoplastic surgery in a progressive format. Essential Oculoplastics 1 and 2 are lab-based and involve cadaver dissection. Residents practice specific procedures that every ophthalmologist should understand and know how to perform. Essential Oculoplastics 3 varies each cycle and often features guest speakers from other universities and other UW departments. Previous topics have included thyroid eye disease and ocular oncology.
“This course is a foundational component to our resident training curriculum,” said Suzanne van Landingham, MD, course co-director. “It is a great opportunity for our residents to be fully hands-on, and to ask questions of instructors in a way that may not be possible in the operating room. The course compliments and augments the classroom-based teaching that the residents receive as part the Basic Science Lecture series and the additional hands-on learning they receive during their oculoplastic rotation.”
The course is always co-directed by the current oculofacial plastic surgery fellow, which, according to van Landingham, is vital to the program’s – and the residents’ – success.
“The oculoplastics fellow is not only is instrumental in making the course happen at the UW,” said Dr. van Landingham, “but they also learn how to host a cadaver lab, which is a skill they can carry into their next job.”
Oculoplastics training has evolved over the years. The Essential Oculoplastics course as it’s known today started in 2008 under the direction of Mark Lucarelli, MD, FACS and Cat Burkat, MD, FACS.
“It used to be a yearly course that focused primarily on anatomy and cadaver dissection,” said Dr. Burkat, who first experienced the course back in 2003 as a fellow. “There were alternating years of didactics with a guest visiting speaker to teach without dissection. Eventually, though, we realized it would be great to create a graduated course that would teach the residents different things each year so that they could build on their skills, starting with more basic techniques and culminating with advanced techniques by the time they graduated.”
Hence Essential Oculoplastics was born.
“We changed it to a skills transfer format, so that residents could make big strides on their surgical skills rather than just learning anatomy,” said Dr. Lucarelli.
The course faculty include full-time UW oculoplastics faculty – Drs. van Landingham, Burkat, and Lucarelli – and clinical adjunct faculty (Drs. John Rose, Brett Pariseau, and Bradley Lemke). Professor Emeritus Dr. Richard Dortzbach, who founded the UW oculoplastic surgery program in 1968, frequently participates as well.
“As an instructor, my favorite memories are the ‘aha!’ moments, when something clicks for a resident after they’ve had that hands-on, no-rush opportunity to practice a surgical technique. I love seeing the enthusiasm and the energy from the learners. It lasts all day,” Dr. van Landingham said.
