Increasing hospitalisation of patients with herpes zoster ophthalmicus-an interdisciplinary retrospective analysis

BACKGROUND

The occurrence of herpes zoster is rising globally. Future trends will be influenced by changes in population demographics and the growing number of patients at risk. Overall this poses a challenge for healthcare systems.

METHODS

In our interdisciplinary, single-centre retrospective analysis, we aimed to assess the burden of the disease within the Department of Dermatology and the Eye Centre from the Medical Centre, University of Freiburg from 2009-2022. We obtained data from 3034 cases coded using the ICD-10 B02.x. Patients were characterised by sex, age, year of treatment, and type of treatment (inpatient vs. outpatient).

RESULTS

Overall we observed a 200% increase in the number of herpes zoster patients over the 13-year period. Upon closer analysis, this was mainly due to a rise in inpatient treatment for herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

CONCLUSIONS

If the incidence of herpes zoster ophthalmicus continues to increase at the current rate the number of hospitalisations of zoster ophthalmicus would double by 2040, assuming guideline-appropriate treatment. Overall, the results show a growing need for inpatient ophthalmological care.

[Online examination course instead of classroom teaching: adaptation of medical student teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic]

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic restricted face-to-face interactions of medical students and teachers.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and evaluate an online course for ophthalmology examination techniques for medical students and to determine the impact of the course on the practical objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The online examination course was developed as a video-based tutorial according to the SMART (specific, measurable, activating, reasonable, time-bound) principle covering all topics of the National Competency-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Medical Education and made available to medical students in the ophthalmology course. At the end of the semester the students graded the online examination course on an ordinal scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 6 (strongly disagree) anonymously and were asked for comments. The grades of the OSCE (range 1-5) were compared with the OSCE results of the previous semester.

RESULTS

Of the 164 students 67 participated in the online evaluation (41%). The students reported to be well-prepared for the OSCE (mean grade 2.0; SD 1.0). In the future, 70% of the students would prefer combined online and on-site teaching (47 out of 67 students). Among all 164 students, the mean OSCE results were excellent (mean grade 1.1; SD 0.2) and comparable to the previous semester (mean grade among 166 students, 1.1; SD 0.2; two-sided t-test, p = 0.86).

CONCLUSION

The online course on ophthalmology examination techniques allowed medical students to prepare for the OSCE. Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching options can support on-site teaching.