WAEH Newsletter 🌍
WAEH 18th Annual Meeting
Call for Abstracts open now!
The 18th Annual Meeting of the WAEH is approaching! From November the 7 till November the 12 we will visit the AIER Eye Hospital from Changsha, and the Shanghai Eye and Ent in Shanghai in China. You do not want to miss this exciting meeting!
Topics that we will talk about during the 18th Annual Meeting?
- Shaping the Future:Â AI in Ophthalmology
- Shaping the Future:Â Innovation in Ophthalmology (including cutting-edge research) Â
- Preparing for the Future:Â Ophthalmology Talent DevelopmentÂ
- Saving the Future:Â Sustainable Development of Eye HospitalsÂ
- Securing the Future: Medical Quality Management in Eye HospitalsÂ
- Who are the Future? Our Patients:Â Patient Education
Interested in joining or want to know more about the annual meeting? Check out the event website!
WAEH 18th Annual Meeting
Themes of 2024
Launch
WAEH Travel Exchange Programme
The Community of Practice for Human Resources of the WAEH is delighted to announce the launch of their new Travel Exchange Programme, organized in close cooperation with the World Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH). This initiative aims to foster the exchange of knowledge and expertise between leading eye hospitals – all members of the WAEH – by providing eye care professionals with the opportunity to closely observe and learn from each other’s practices and approaches.
As a pilot project, this exchange will take place between The Rotterdam Eye Hospital and The Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital in Paris. Two selected participants, working in the operating rooms, will spend one week at the partner hospital. During this exchange, they will observe daily practices, participate in various activities, and share experiences with their counterparts. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the respective hospitals, allowing the participants to focus entirely on learning and exploring new insights without financial concerns.
The primary goal of this programme is to learn from each other, discover new perspectives, and exchange best practices that can contribute to the enhancement of eye care in both institutions. A second important objective is to present these eye hospitals as attractive employers. By offering such enriching professional development opportunities, the hospitals aim to enhance their appeal to current and prospective employees, showcasing their commitment to fostering professional growth and excellence in the field of eye care.
Furthermore, there is significant enthusiasm from other participating hospitals within the Community of Practice for Human Resources to also engage in personnel exchanges. The desire to learn from each other is highly valued and remains a core principle of the WAEH since its inception nearly 20 years ago. This spirit of mutual learning and collaboration continues to drive the association’s mission to elevate the standards of eye care worldwide.
We are confident that this unique experience will lead to valuable insights and long-lasting collaborations between our hospitals. We look forward to the commencement of this pilot and hope it will be a successful beginning of many future exchanges within the World Association of Eye Hospitals.
Want to join this program: contact
Jos Hubers: j.hubers@oogziekenhuis.nl and Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Watch the recording of the Community of Practice Human Resources!
Watch now: the recording of the WAEH Community of Practice Human Resources about the Travel Exchange Programme!! Eye hospitals from all around the world participated: Chili, Brasil, United Kingdom, Australia, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Libanon, Indonesia, Pakistan.
The first exchange will take place between The Rotterdam Eye Hospital and The Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital in Paris. Two selected participants, working in the operating rooms, will spend one week at the partner hospital. During this exchange, they will observe daily practices, participate in various activities, and share experiences with their counterparts. The duration of the exchange is one week.
This program, organized by the Community of Practice for Human Resources and the World Association of Eye Hospitals, will start in October 2024. We will develop an application form and a report form.
Watch the recording on the WAEH Knowledge Hub. If you have no access to the Hub, please request the login via Maaike: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Upcoming meetings of the Community of Practice Human Resources
The Human Resources Community of practice takes place once every three months. This group meets to discuss topics such as Handholding – From Volunteer to Career, Employment model(s) in ophthalmology, Task differentiation and Burn out prevention. The group will share best practices and learn from each other. This group is led by Jos Hubers from The Rotterdam Eye Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Angela Smith from the Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom. The group meets via Zoom every three months.
Upcoming meetings:
1. September 5: protecting employees against non-preferred behaviour from patients and colleagues
2. During the 18th Annual Meeting (7 November – 12 November, 2024): in person meeting of the CoP HR
3. December 5: task delegation and creating development/career options
Please feel welcome to join us. If you’re interested in one or more of the themes, please let us know, so we can send you the Zoom-link and further details of the meeting. Please note that your eyehospital must be a member of the WAEH to join these meetings.Â
Upcoming meetings of the Community of Practice for Nurses and Allied Health Personnel
The Community of Practice for Nurses and Allied Health Personnel is for all nurses and allied health staff working in eye hospitals worldwide! This is a three monthly meetup via zoom of one hour in which we share ideas. This group is led by Tendai Gwenhure from Moorfields, London, United Kingdom, and Diana Malata from Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Upcoming meetings:
- Opthalmic nurse education/ professional development – Friday 6 Sept, 01.00 pm CEST
- During the 18th Annual Meeting (7 November – 12 November, 2024): in person meeting of the CoP Nurses and Allied Health Personnel
- Clinical / specialist role – Thursday 12 Dec, 01.00 pm CET
L V Prasad Eye Institute
Monthly Note: Eye Cancer
In April, LVPEI’s Kode Venkatadri Chowdary (KVC) campus in Vijayawada made history by performing the first-ever intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) procedure in the state of Andhra Pradesh. A four-year-old girl with bilateral retinoblastoma, a life-threatening eye cancer, had a recurring tumour in one eye even after completing 12 intravenous chemotherapies (the first line of treatment). This prompted Dr Anasua Ganguly, Head of the KVC Campus and an ocular oncologist, to treat the young girl with IAC.
The call to offer IAC is not an easy decision. It is a delicate and complex procedure where a concentrated dose of cancer-inhibiting medication is delivered into the patient’s ophthalmic artery, the primary source of blood to the eye. IAC is particularly effective in treating retinoblastoma, but it requires precision, skill, and the support of a multidisciplinary team. This form of chemotherapy is popular in the West, but its adoption in India is hindered by the cost and limited medical infrastructure. Anasua collaborated with experts from various hospitals, including Rainbow Children’s Hospital and Pioneer Anaesthesia Group, Vijayawada; Life Neurovascular Hospital, Guntur; and Apollo Cancer Hospital, Hyderabad.
Anasua says, “This achievement holds personal significance for me, as it represents the culmination of years of perseverance. Despite initial reluctance and a lot of resistance from the interventional radiologist to initiate IAC services in Vijayawada, we remained steadfast in our commitment to providing comprehensive care locally. Through collaborative efforts and determination, we were able to overcome obstacles and successfully perform the procedure for the first time in Andhra Pradesh.”
Read the whole article here!
Aravind Eye Care System
Management Training & Systems Development for Eye Hospital Administrators & Managers
This course allows participants to thoroughly understand the Aravind approach by balancing time observing its facilities and addressing and discussing management issues within the classroom. You will spend significant time in Aravind’s tertiary and secondary care hospitals, vision centres, community centres, and outreach eye camp seeing and questioning the practices you learn about in class.
Class time is a combination of case discussions and lectures supplemented by reading assignments and exercises. The case method, popular in top-tier business schools, uses simulations of actual management situations. By putting you in realistic scenarios, the lessons drawn from class become relevant to your own hospital environment. Expect to constantly be challenged to fit the operational solutions you see into your own hospital’s context.
This four-week course, offered in April and August each year, is designed for people who lead the day-to-day operations and improvements at an eye hospital and will take place from August 1 through August 30 2024.
More details here!
Moorfields Eye Hospital
Moorfields International Uveitis Symposium
Don’t miss this chance to hear from top national and international speakers and the Moorfields International Uveitis Symposium, taking place from 11-13 July at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. This unique three-day symposium will provide a forum for the exchange of information and new ideas relevant to clinical practice, investigations, and therapeutic management of patients with ocular inflammatory diseases and complex uveitic conditions, with an in-depth discussion surrounding the diagnosis and therapeutic strategies of specific inflammatory disorders.
The booking link is https://checkout.moorfields.nhs.uk/product?catalog=Moorfields-international-uveitis-symposium
Use code WAEH20 to get 20% WAEH discount for this symposium!
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