April 2018

SPECIAL FEATURE: RANZCO 2018
Calling all Kiwi doctors to AUSCRS 2018
BY DR DAVID KENT*
This year’s annual meeting of the Australasian Society of Cataract
and Refractive Surgeons (AUSCRS) will be held at Macquarie
Conference Centre, Peppers (previously known as the Outrigger),
Noosa from Wednesday 17 October to Saturday 20 October.
Since its beginnings in 1996, AUSCRS has been the only local
Australian and New Zealand annual meeting devoted to cataract and
refractive surgery. Despite this, it remains poorly attended by New
Zealand ophthalmologists many of whom are refractive surgeons
and almost all of us are cataract surgeons. I’d like to encourage
more attendance at our local meeting by New Zealand-based
ophthalmologists many of whom would find this a useful and very
enjoyable meeting to attend.
AUSCRS is a much less formal meeting than either the American or
European cataract and refractive surgery meetings. Dress has always
been casual with no jackets, suits or ties and the meeting has always
intentionally been held at “resort” destinations in Australia and New
Zealand, making it very “family friendly” to attend. The relaxed and
friendly atmosphere, is also more than complemented by the high
calibre of speakers drawn from across the world and locally.
There’s lots of discussion and debate, and plenty of opportunity to
freely discuss topics with both internationally-renowned and local
experts, truly unrivalled by similar meetings. Another annual AUSCRS
highlight and tradition is the imaginative themes and formats of
the sessions, with local and international speakers often dressing
up in entertaining costumes, sometimes bordering on the bizarre.
It has been very entertaining over the years to see world-renowned
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Drs Dean Corbett, Peter Ring, Michael Merrimen and David Kent demonstrating the more relaxed
attire favoured at AUSCRS at the 2015 conference in Noosa
ophthalmologists dressed up in amusing costumes debating often
quite controversial topics.
Some New Zealand ophthalmologists appear to be put off
attending AUSCRS because of a perception the meeting is largely for
refractive surgeons. This has never been the case and most of the
meeting remains primarily concentrated on advances in cataract
surgery. So any New Zealand ophthalmologist who performs cataract
surgery would also find AUSCRS a very useful meeting to attend.
Another unique part of AUSCRS is the advanced trainee session on the
Wednesday morning where some of the leading Australasian cataract
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Noosa, venue for AUSCRS 2018
and refractive surgeons present a series of educational lectures and
interactive sessions for senior registrars and fellows. Feedback from
registrars has always been very positive for this programme.
The conference-proper starts with an opening street party on
Wednesday evening, then there are three days of academic sessions on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the Gold Medal Lecture on Thursday
morning. The meeting finishes with the AUSCRS Gala Event on Saturday
night, leaving Sunday for delegates to sight-see and travel home.
The overseas speakers are yet to be announced for this year’s
AUSCRS, but usually include some of the world’s leading cataract and
refractive surgeons. Professor Graham Barrett continues to preside
over AUSCRS and there really isn’t anyone better in Australasia with
the experience and academic mana to be the leader of our local
cataract and refractive surgery meeting.
I believe most New Zealand ophthalmologists should consider
attending AUSCRS as they will truly enjoy it and find the calibre of
education second-to-none. We should also all be supporting this
‘local’ meeting to keep it sustainable in the long term. So, I hope
you’ll join me at AUSCRS 2018 in Noosa this October.
For more: please visit http://www.auscrs2018.org.au/
*Dr David Kent is a consultant ophthalmologist with Fendalton Eye Clinic and
Christchurch Eye Hospital. He has co-authored many papers and presented at many
international meetings on laser refractive surgery. He is a member of both the
American and Australasian Societies of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the New
Zealand AUSCRS council representative.
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Dr Jacqui Beltz overseeing new VR training at RVEEH
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) has introduced
state-of-the-art virtual reality simulators to train the next
generation of eye surgeons.
The RVEEH’s new Eyesi Surgical simulators allow ophthalmology
trainees to learn highly specialised micro-surgery skills in a safe
and controlled environment, and the trainer to objectively monitor
and track an individual’s progress, said Dr Jacqueline Beltz, RVEEH
ophthalmologist and training director for the Victorian Branch of
RANZCO. “Practice is vital to learn any skill and microsurgery is no
exception. Virtual reality simulation provides a setting that forgives
failure, and allows trainees to develop fine motor skills as well as
learn from their errors without causing harm.”
Studies have shown that patient outcomes are improved when
trainees have undertaken virtual reality training. Virtual reality
simulation training will be used alongside traditional training
methods, including wet and dry labs, to increase the breadth of
surgical training for young ophthalmologists, said Dr Beltz. “With the
data that is collected, we can track each individual trainee’s progress,
identifying and addressing any gaps that may require extra practice
or additional teaching. We can also compare trainees’ progress both
locally and globally, so we can evaluate and improve our training
programme.”
The first stage of RVEEH’s virtual reality training programme will
focus on preparing first year trainees for cataract surgery. Future
programmes will include training for vitreoretinal surgery and
complication management. ▀
18 NEW ZEALAND OPTICS April 2018