The standardizing of the practical education program for orthoptist Nihon University Itabashi Hospital through the result of the questionnaire for the trainees and the institutions received them

• Published in: JAPANESE ORTHOPTIC JOURNAL Vol. 36; pp. 161 - 170
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Rika, Nishio, Miki, Fukuyama, Chiyomi, Kajino, Keiko, Sato, Eri, Hiwatari, Yumiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF CERTIFIED ORTHOPTISTS 31.10.2007
• Subjects: Clinical practice; Practical education Program; Pre-graduate education
• ISSN: 0387-5172; 1883-9215
• DOI: 10.4263/jorthoptic.36.161

Purpose: The purpose of the present questionnaire survey was to evaluate the practical education program for orthoptist students at Nihon University Itabashi Hospital, investigate the actual conditions of other medical institutions that accepted orthoptist students, including the contents of the practical education program and any problems relating clinical practice, and improve the quality of the clinical practice education. Subjects and methods: The subjects were 23 orthoptists who completed their clinical practice at this hospital during the period starting from 2003. The questionnaire was also distributed to the 20 medical institutions in the Kanto district, including university hospitals, where instructors with more than five years' clinical experience were working. Results: The orthoptist students replied that they could experience a broad range of ophthalmologic practice and learn the course of routine laboratory tests in the practical education program at this institution. As demonstrated by their impressions, they highly appreciated this practical education program. Generally, the respondents worked at private clinics and wished to have their clinical practice on the examinations and training on heterotropia and amblyopia. Many orthoptist students pointed out that, in the practical education program, they could not utilize their basic knowledge which they had acquired at school. The instructors at the medical institutions receiving the orthoptist students insisted that many students lacked basic knowledge, and that establishment of the guiding principles was difficult because of a lack of uniformity in their knowledge levels. Discussion: Because most of the respondents worked at private clinics and had limited opportunities to see the patients with heterotropia and amblyopia, they requested to have their practical education program on the treatment of such diseases. Their request can be fulfilled if we take the approach of standardizing the contents of the program and designing a combined curriculum which would enable the students to experience clinical practice at institutions specializing in such treatment. We should consider the results of the present survey and make efforts to promote the practical education program in an effective manner. For this purpose, we should check the students' basic knowledge and their levels of knowledge acquisition prior to their participation in the practical education program, and introduce a teaching method simulating the actual clinical settings so that they can utilize their basic knowledge in the clinical practice. In this way, we should reform undergraduate education with the aim of standardizing the practical education program and improving its quality.