Abstract:

Introduction:
The current curriculum of the Master in Advanced Optometry and Vision Sciences in the University of Valencia includes the subject of corneal transplantation from a theoretical viewpoint, covering the whole process from the donor’s decease to the replacement of the patient’s cornea and post-surgery recovery. Although the students learn about the available tools to improve visual quality in transplanted patients after surgery in clinical practice with real patients and not only with lectures, the complicated quality controls of corneal donor tissue, where optometrists might collaborate, are addressed only from a theoretical viewpoint.
We have designed a lab activity to illustrate the difficulties involved in the process of corneal transplantation and the role of the optometrist.

Methodology:
Optometrists,ophthalmologists, a biologist and lab technicians specialized take part in this activity, which is not carried out in the University premises, but in the labs of a clinic with experience in corneal surgery.
The first part is a short lecture on how to become a donor and on how Eye Banks work. In the second part, the extraction of a donor’s cornea is simulated using pig eyes, emphasizing the critical points of each stage. The students may replicate the process under the guidance of specialized technicians. The quality of the tissue to be transplanted is subsequently analyzed. In this last stage, the students can apply their knowledge of image processing and optical quality assessment.

Results and conclusions:
The first edition of this seminar took place within a program of continued formation outside the university. In this case, 41 persons participated, 16 were optometrists and the rest were laboratory technicians, doctors and ophthalmology residents. All of them expressed a great interest in the seminar and a high degree of satisfaction in the knowledge acquired.
A survey was also carried out among the students of the Degree of Optometry to assess their interest in this seminar. In all cases, students valued the experience positively, considering it to be of interest in the development of their future profession.
Although this activity is designed for Optometrists, its content can benefit students and professionals from other disciplines. Thus, it can also be extended to laboratory technicians, ophthalmologists and veterinarians interested, among other disciplines.
This seminar is also proposed as a multicisplinar course that requires teachers from various disciplines. This fact means that there is a great exchange of knowledge between different areas, as well as an assessment by each of the parts involved, of the work carried out by the other disciplines within the corneal transplant process.

The theoretical part concerning the process of corneal transplantation and the Eye Bank functioning could even be of interest to the general public, and can be used both as a means of dissemination and to raise awareness of the importance of being a donor at university and secondary education centers, as well as neighborhood associations.

In summary, this seminar is presented within the framework of the studies of the Master of Optics and Optometry, but the same experience can be applied as an informative mode in other disciplines and even to the general public as a way of raising awareness about the importance of transplants.

Acknowledgements:
To Dra Cristina Peris by her implication in the seminarReferences.

Keywords:

Corneal trasplantation, eye bank, multidisciplinar, optometry.