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Ophthalmology Undergraduate RCSI
Department of Ophthalmology
The RCSI Department of Ophthalmology was established in 1986 and is situated at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH), Adelaide Road, Dublin 2.
The department is involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and assessment, together with research led by Professor Conor Murphy.
The activities of the department include undergraduate education, post-graduate education, training and assessment, and clinical and laboratory research.
The undergraduate experience in ophthalmology is spread across three years; in intermediate cycle 3, ophthalmology forms part of the essentials in clinical practice programme, in senior cycle 1 there is a day of clinical ophthalmology teaching pertinent to primary care and is run in conjunction with the department of General Practice, and finally in senior cycle 3 undergraduate ophthalmology is integrated into medicine with a one week clinical attachment in either the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital or Waterford Regional Hospital.
The Department of Ophthalmology at RCSI is responsible for the assessment of post-graduate trainees in medical ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgery. The membership and fellowship examinations are the core assessment instruments in Ireland and the membership examination has also recently been successfully conducted in Cairo.
RCSI Undergraduate Ophthalmology Teaching
Ophthalmology is now incorporated in to the medical degree course at three stages.Firstly, in Intermediate Cycle III, students get the opportunity to learn basic clinical skills and are taught the fundamentals of Ophthalmology. Secondly, in Senior Cycle I Ophthalmology is incorporated into the GP rotation with students combining on-line course participation with a full day of clinical skills teaching and interactive tutorials at RVEEH. Finally in Senior Cycle II, RCSI undergraduate students attend RVEEH for a one week clinical attachment which will build on knowledge gained during the on-line ophthalmology lecture course completed in senior cycle I.
The emphasis in senior cycle II will be placed on developing essential clinical skills and using these to assess and manage patients with common and important eye diseases through clinical tutorials, case-based discussion groups, clinical skills sessions and hands-on group teaching with patients.
Students will gain experience in the out patient clinic, eye casualty and operating theatre as well as during interactive sessions in the following areas of clinical care and assessment: orthoptics, ophthalmic photography, electrophysiology of the visual pathway and surgical skills.
In addition, at the end of their course a medal examination is held and students are encouraged to compete for the internationally acclaimed Duke-Elder prize in undergraduate Ophthalmology which is awarded by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in London.
The Ocular Inflammation Research Team was set up in January 2011 by Professor Murphy and Dr Caroline Jefferies, Senior Lecturer in Immunology at RCSI. This programme of research involves collaborations with the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology at Dublin City University and with the Department of Immunology at the University of Ulster. Many clinical research projects are underway at the Clinical Research Department of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital.