In the current time and age of the internet, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and other digital devices, there emerges resources that are one tap away. Amidst all the free resources laid online, it is still important to choose only the legit and reliable ones.
Here is a compilation of some of the most helpful digital resources for ophthalmologists.
Feedly (Android/iOS): This works both in Apple and Android devices. It is more commonly known as a news gathering site for many platforms. Feedly can be used to watch out for your preferred journals if there are any new publications. A quick search for a single hashtag like #ophthalmology leads you to many ophthalmology publishers such as Eye, AJO, Retina, and many more. If in case you are having trouble finding your favorite journal, there are higher odds that they have an RSS feed which can be easily added to Feedly with a couple of steps!
Visual Acuity Charts (Android) / Eye Test Snellen Ishihara (iOS): There are just inevitable times where we catch ourselves having no visual acuity chart while reviewing a patient’s vision out in the ward. These online visual acuity charts work just perfectly to help you set the measuring distance from the patient and adjust the optotype size correspondingly. Eye Test Snellen, however, requires measurement from four feet.
Instagram (Android/iOS): Hold on! This is not about the #instagrammable posts or the highly photoshopped, holiday travels, and vanity photos. There is now a thriving ophthalmologist community on Instagram. These doctors use the platform to spread reliable, interesting, and educational information in forms of photos or videos. These cases are shared with the whole community of ophthalmologists who then shares their own experiences or suggestions in the comments or in direct messages. This provides high educational value. Profiles such as @the_eye_dr are one of the most popular ophthalmologists in the platform. Ophthalmologists are even using Instagram to raise awareness regarding general eye health to the public.
Quizlet (Android/iOS): Although it can be accessed through the web, this software works better when used in the app. Quizlet is an amazing flashcard app to help you review for knowledge-based exams. You can even create your own flashcards or browse through other people’s flashcards.
There are well-established sites such as Oculoplastics.info, Eyetube.com, Gonioscopy.org, Eyerounds.org, and Youtube.com which have thousands of resource materials you can browse through. How about you? What are your favorite online resources for eye news and ophthalmology-related journals?