Background: Public interest in vision health is growing, yet ophthalmology remains underemphasized in medical education due to time constraints associated with in-person instruction. Purpose: To demonstrate effectiveness of self-guided e-learning modules for ocular examination skills and to determine whether self-assessments can reliably assess medical student proficiency in these skills. Methods: Medical students at a single institution participated in a skills workshop. Group 1 completed self-guided modules for visual acuity, confrontational visual field testing, pupil examination, and extraocular motility evaluation. Group 2 completed a self-guided module for the slit lamp anterior segment examination. Afterward, each student completed a self-assessment of the learned skill(s), and a grader completed a corresponding objective assessment. Learners also completed pre- and post-questionnaires assessing confidence levels in these skills. Results: A total of 27 students enrolled in the study: group 1, n = 12; group 2, n = 15. Average learner performance after completing the modules ranged from 60.8% (14/23 items correct, slit lamp anterior segment examination) to 92.6% (8.33/9 items correct, confrontational visual field testing). Mean agreement and Gwet’s AC1 between learner self-assessments and grader objective assessments were 91.7% and 0.893 for visual acuity, 90.7% and 0.892 for confrontational visual field testing, 74.4% and 0.689 for pupil examination, 81.9% and 0.756 for extraocular motility evaluation, and 73.0% and 0.580 for slit lamp anterior segment examination. Confidence improved significantly across all skills (p < 0.01) by the end of the workshop, and 92.6% of learners reported “agree” or “strongly agree” that they found the self-assessments useful for their learning. Conclusion: Self-guided e-learning modules can effectively teach medical students ophthalmic skills. Self-assessments can be a valid assessment for proficiency in these skills, especially if test items are written in a concrete and specific manner. These resources represent promising and innovative adjuncts to medical student education in ophthalmology and can facilitate learning ophthalmic examination skills for clinical clerkships.
Lee et al. (Tue,) studied this question.