WAEH – Newsletter January

China

Share your ideas for the upcoming annual meeting!

Proposals WAEH Projects – Deadline 31 January

Current WAEH Projects are:

1. Assessing Evidence-based Management Practices and variations within WAEH member hospitals. This project was is lead by The Maastricht University Clinic for Ophthalmology and Aravind Eye Care System.

2. Evaluating the Provision of Ophthalmic Nurse Education among WAEH member countries. This project was is lead by Moorfields Eye Hospital.

3. Volunteer to Career. This project was is lead by Moorfields Eye Hospital + Community of Practice Human Resources.

These are all international projects in which we would also like to involve our other members. Would you like to participate in any of these projects? Let us know! Send an email to Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org

Projects of the WAEH – 2024! 
Each year 2 to 3 projects are funded by the WAEH to help shape and improve ophthalmic care on a global scale. 

Examples of projects:

• WAEH 2021 2022 – Medical Outcomes for Keratoconus and Primary Retinal Detachment
• Development of a patient communication package about How to apply eyedrops the best – launched during the WAEH Annual Meeting in Baltimore on World Sight Day 2022
• Development of a package for Enucleation – ready to be downloaded from our WAEH Knowledge Hub
• Improving Efficiency within Intravitreal Injection Clinics

And many more in previous years.

Each project can be budgeted with a budget of a maximum of 7.500 euro. This is paid from the fees of the WAEH membership. You can use the following WAEH project format to send in your project proposal: WAEH project proposal. Please note that all proposals are reviewed by the board. The board will make a decision about the project proposals during one of the board meetings. Due to budget constraints not all project proposals can be accepted. 

Round 2024  – Deadline 31 January 2024

• Incoming proposals reviewed by the board during the March board meeting 
• All proposals need to be sent in using the standard WAEH project format

Send your project proposal to Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org

Want to know more about how to implement Bilateral Cataract Surgery in your eye hospital?

Want to know more about how to implement Bilateral Cataract Surgery in your eye hospital and missed the December webinar of the WAEH? 
Go to the WAEH Knowledge Hub: https://knowledgehub.waeh.org/webinars/
If you have no access to the Hub, please request the login via Maaike: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org

Download the Presentations
https://knowledgehub.waeh.org/same-day-bilateral-cataract-surgery-breaking-down-the-barriers/
https://knowledgehub.waeh.org/towards-isbcs-the-bicat-implementation-project/
https://knowledgehub.waeh.org/from-one-to-two-preparing-the-or-for-isbcs/

Check out the Recording
Watch the recording here.

For the news article about the research: https://www.waeh.org/news/news-from-our-full-member-the-maastricht-university-clinic-for-ophthalmology/

Publication in the Lancet
The publication in the Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00525-1/fulltext

Research by Finland
In their real-world data set of all 56 700 surgeries in 2008-20, 39% of 34 797 patients had ISBS. The proportion increased from 4% in 2008 to 40% in 2020. 

The Finnish conclusions fully agree with the Dutch study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36229178/

The Rotterdam Eye Hospital

2024? The Rotterdam Eye Hospital celebrates it’s 150th anniversary

2024 will be a special year for The Rotterdam Eye Hospital. The year marks the hospital’s 150th anniversary. To announce the start of the anniversary year, a large, festive bow has been hanging around the building since last weekend.

The upcoming anniversary year is all about events, reminiscing and looking ahead to the next 150 years. Among other things, the hospital will open its doors during Museum Night on March 2, a large group of doctors and staff will participate in the Rotterdam Marathon on April 14 to raise money for an eye hospital in Rwanda, and other festivities will take place including a large staff party.

Yvonne Koppelman, chairman of the board of directors of The Rotterdam Eye Hospital: “Our reputation and quality is not built up overnight but has a long history. A history that goes back 150 years and for which we can be grateful. We could never have created the impact on the healthcare landscape in the Netherlands without the dedication of many enthusiastic colleagues but also thanks to many involved patients. Reason enough therefore to celebrate this together at The Rotterdam Eye Hospital and together with our patients and local residents.”

Read the whole article here.

World Health Organization

WHO’s Science in 5 Adult eye care

Did you know that 70 per cent of the people who need eye glasses do not have access to them?  What are the leading causes of blindness?  Who is at risk and how can you prevent it?

Dr Stuart Keel explains in Science in 5.

· 1. YouTube: https://youtu.be/75sFizT9oOs

· 2. Podcasts available on your preferred platforms: https://lnk.to/science-in-5

· 3. Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9S6xGsoqIBXRQzSDOfFb13iPrbL8fgy1

· 4. Transcripts, podcast: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/media-resources/science-in-5

· 5. Broadcast quality files: https://who.canto.global/b/I1G4T and https://who.canto.global/b/RRATD

LVPEI

Practicing Purposeful Research

“Some of our patients are tiny, only days or weeks old, yet they come to us with very complicated conditions that require surgery and long-term care. It is a challenge to understand how much the baby sees or even improves with our management. So, we developed a special device called BaViS (Baby Vision Screener, earlier called Paediatric Perimeter) to ‘screen’ such babies at our Centre for Technology Innovation. We can now record, in a matter of minutes, changes in the baby’s “looking behaviour” before and after surgery (such as for the removal of a congenital cataract) thanks to BaViS. The device helps us get a quick, quantitative measure till the babies are old enough to start identifying symbols and letters.”

This is an excerpt from a presentation made by Ms. Monika Thakur who is pursuing her PhD with our colleague, PremNandhini Satgunam. PremNandhini (PN, to many) is an optometrist and vision scientist. She started working on a paediatric perimeter nearly 10 years ago, during one of the hackathons at our Center for Technology Innovation (CFTI). We had identified an unmet need in assessing the vision and field-of-vision in newborns and very young infants. PN joined a team of engineers, designers, and practicing clinicians to tackle this need. Their efforts led to the development of a BaViS precursor that allowed us to reliably assess the field-of-vision in infants. Today, BaViS is patented both in India and USA. The device has been refined and has evolved to assess not only the field-of-vision but also brain development in these young babies. PN has been feted with multiple awards, including the prestigious Pfizer Ophthalmics Carl Camras Translational Research Award of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) foundation in 2022.

Read the whole article here.

Prima Medical Center Saigon

Prima Saigon Eyes Latest Advances in Eye Treatment

Ho Chi Minh City, 16 December 2023 – Amidst rising eye disease cases in Vietnam, Prima Medical Center Saigon, a Hoan My Medical Corporation member and an Associate Member of World Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH), has recently held the Scientific Conference on “Updated Advances in Ophthalmology Care and Treatments”. 

With two million Vietnamese suffering from blindness and visual impairment, advances in treatments were the focus. Eye specialists discussed the latest methods for myopia control, refractive surgeries, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.  

Read the whole article here.

Want to share your research with the global network? Please send the publications or URL’s to maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org

2024

Agenda

27 February, 01.00 pm CET – Community of Practice for Nurses
Research impact on clinical practice
7 March, 01.00 pm CET – Community of Practice Human Resources
21 March, 12.00noon CET – WAEH Board Meeting
16 May, 01.00 pm CEST – Community of Practice for Nurses
Clinical leaderships
6 June, 01.00 pm CEST– Community of Practice Human Resources
20 June, 12.00noon CEST –WAEH Board Meeting
5 September, 01.00 pm CEST – Community of Practice Human Resources
6 September, 01.00 pm CEST – Community of Practice for Nurses
Opthalmic nurse education/professional development 
19 September, 12.00noon CEST – WAEH Board Meeting
7 – 12 November: WAEH Annual Meeting – China
5 December, 01.00 pm CET – Community of Practice Human Resources
12 December, 01.00 pm CET – Community of Practice for Nurses
Clinical / specialist role
19 December, 12.00noon CET – WAEH Board Meeting

Want to join? Register here!

Questions? Share news?

Do you have a special request? Would you like to organize a webinar or share news? Would you like to be (digitally) connected to a certain person in one of our member eye hospitals? Please feel very welcome to hare your questions via the new Community Tool or contact Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org