JAMA ophthalmology
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Multicenter Study
Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Australia: The Australian National Eye Health Survey.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly population globally. Currently, knowledge of the epidemiology of AMD in Australia remains scarce because of a paucity of recent population-based data. ⋯ In line with data from other white populations, AMD is a prominent cause of vision loss in the nonindigenous Australian population. An increased provision of low vision rehabilitation services may be required to cope with the projected increase in AMD in Australia.
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Because women remain underrepresented in leadership positions in medicine, including ophthalmology, knowledge of sex composition of ophthalmic journal editorial and professional society boards seems warranted. ⋯ The findings suggest that the sex composition on journal editorial and professional society boards in ophthalmology is consistent with the sex composition of ophthalmologists in the US, as reported by the Association of American Colleges, but that editor in chief and society president positions are male dominated despite the apparent equality in academic productivity.
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Physicians face pressure to improve clinical efficiency, particularly with electronic health record (EHR) adoption and gradual shifts toward value-based reimbursement models. These pressures are especially pronounced in academic medical centers, where delivery of care must be balanced with medical education. However, the association of the presence of trainees with clinical efficiency in outpatient ophthalmology clinics is not known. ⋯ Presence of trainees was associated with longer appointment times, even for patients not seen by a trainee. Although numerous limitations to this study design might affect the interpretation of the findings, these results highlight a potential challenge of maintaining clinical efficiency in academic medical centers and raise questions about physician reimbursement models.
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Conference proceedings are platforms for early communication and dissemination of relevant and timely topics of interest. More than half of abstracts presented at biomedical conferences fail to be published in full, resulting in wasted time and resources. ⋯ More than 60% of abstracts presented at eye and vision conferences were not published in full within 2 years of conference presentation. Failure to disseminate research studies in peer-reviewed journals is not desired, especially when involving human participants.