Objective: This survey is conducted by Hebei Society of Ophthalmology to understand the current situation of the department of ophthalmology in Hebei province, in order to help the Branch to develop an effective, highly-targeted and practical continuing education program.
Methods: A questionnaire is used in this survey, which consists of 4 sections and 25 items, covering Basic Information, Hospital and Department, Personal Practice and Open-ended Questions. The questionnaire is distributed and collected by the Society of Ophthalmology of each region in Hebei province to all medical institutions in their area which have the ability to carry out ophthalmic clinical work. After the aggregation of the questionnaire and according to the omission, Hebei Society of Ophthalmology contacts the individuals who missed the survey by direct calls, letter post and email, etc. to finish the survey.
Results: This survey covers 121 counties and cities (coverage 85.8%), 305 medical institutions and 1 485 ophthalmologists. Results shows that trained ophthalmologists take a high proportion (84.3%) in all hospitals, the percentage of ophthalmologists who are eager to learn and improve is high (94.8%), the percentage of ophthalmologists having a Bachelor degree or above is high (68.9%). However, the percentage of ophthalmologists having a Master or Doctor degree is relatively low (19.6%), the talents who can independently carry out vitrectomy are insufficient (4.1%), the percentage of the medical institutions not having basic ophthalmic equipment is high (37.3%).
Conclusions: The reasons restraining the development of Ophthalmology in Hebei province include the lack of professional talents and ophthalmic equipment. The contradiction between the increasing demand of the public for ophthalmological treatment and the limited medical service level we can provide is the primary contradiction in the departments of Ophthalmology in Hebei province. After the survey and according to the results, Hebei Society of Ophthalmology will organize more training to meet the desire and interest of the ophthalmologists in our province, to achieve the ultimately goal of improving the Ophthalmic medical level throughout the province.