Meghrigian Institute organizes public and professional education through various blindness prevention seminars and conferences.

Ophthalmic Trainings on Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness Held at AUA

YEREVAN, Armenia – In April, 2019, the Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology (Meghrigian Institute) of the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR), Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH), conducted a three-day training on Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) and a two-day training on Improvement of Ophthalmology Qualifications. The trainings were held at the American University of Armenia (AUA) and participants were granted Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credits.

The trainings were developed and organized in the scope of the project “Nationwide Epidemiological Survey Using Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) Methodology,” which is made possible by the financial support from the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF). The main goals of the project are to estimate the prevalence of ocular morbidity and its potential causes and vision loss due to cataracts and other major causes among population aged 50 and over in the Republic of Armenia, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of the innovative public health approach implemented in Gegharkunik province of Armenia between 2003 and 2018 in reducing cataract related ocular morbidity and vision loss, an intervention supported by a LCIF-SightFirst grant in 2003-2008.

The RAAB is a rapid methodology to conduct a population-based survey of blindness/visual impairment and eye care services among people aged 50 years and over. It is intended to identify the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment, its main causes, the output and quality of eye care services, barriers, cataract surgical coverage, and other indicators of eye care services in a specific geographic area. The RAAB in Armenia will cover all provinces of the country including a sample of almost 3,500 people. The survey teams include trained ophthalmologists, nurses, and interviewers.

The RAAB training has been implemented to thoroughly train RAAB survey team members so that they uniformly follow the same procedure to identify eligible subjects, assess visual acuity through E charts,a pinhole, and examine the eye lens, as well as record data. Each team received standardized instructions on definitions of eye disease, methods of selection of the subjects, examination protocol, and methods of obtaining and recording data. Dr. Ala Paduka, a certified RAAB trainer, conducted the training in collaboration with Dr. Naira Khachatryan, the principal investigator of the project. Five ophthalmologists, three nurses, and four interviewers participated in the training.

After successfully completing the theoretical part of the RAAB training, the teams put their knowledge into practice. Each team practiced visual acuity testing on each other, using the E chart and a pinhole. Then, the teams traveled to Lions Regional Ophthalmic Unit (LROU) in Sevan to conduct eye examinations among 40 patients to assess inter-observer variation. The findings of each examiner were compared with the findings of the most experienced examiner. The most complicated cases (fourteen patients) were invited to the LROU for a follow-up. Each team discussed the eye examination results of those cases with Dr. Gevorg Baraghamyan, the Head Physician and Ophthalmic Surgeon of LROU in Sevan. The teams pre-tested door-to-door eye examinations among people living in Sevan, Gegharkunik province. The pretesting was conducted under the supervision of Drs. Paduka and Khachatryan, and Aida Giloyan, the senior researcher and operations manager of the Meghrigian Institute.

The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia (RA) accredited the curricula of both trainings and designated 14 theoretical and 7 practical CPD credits for the ophthalmologists and 13 theoretical and 5 practical CPD credits for the nurses participating in the RAAB training, as well as 6 theoretical and 3 practical CPD credits for the ophthalmologists participating in the second training. All the participants will receive certificates in recognition of successful completion of the training courses and credits signed by the RA Minister of Health.

Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology Completed Ophthalmic Trainings for Ophthalmologists and Ophthalmic Nurses from Nine Marzes of Armenia 

Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology (Meghrigian Institute) of Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health conducted a 4-day training on “Ophthalmic Diseases, Modern Diagnostic and Treatment Methods” among ophthalmologists and a 2-day training on “Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Ophthalmic Diseases” among ophthalmic nurses from nine marzes of Armenia in October and November 2016. This project has been implemented to fulfill the mission of Meghrigian Institute to educate health providers and establish an ophthalmic care and prevention network to expand service delivery to under-served populations.

The training course provided knowledge and skills in the area of eye disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment methods.   The course for ophthalmologists covered anatomy and physiology of eyes, refractive errors, main eye diseases, and current methods in diagnostic and treatment procedures, with a particular focus on cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, while the course for ophthalmic nurses covered main eye diseases, eye injuries, diagnostic and treating procedures in ophthalmology and prevention of eye diseases.

Dr. Varsik Hakobyan, an Ophthalmic Consultant at Meghrigian Institute and an experienced practicing ophthalmologist, conducted the trainings. Twenty two ophthalmologists and twenty five ophthalmic nurses from nine marzes participated in the training. The Ministry of Health accredited the training curricula and designated 14 theoretical and two practical continuing medical education (CME) credits for the ophthalmologists’ training and eight theoretical CME credits for the ophthalmic nurses’ training. All the participants received certificates in recognition of successful completion of the training course and credits signed by the Minister of Health in December. The theoretical part of the trainings took place at AUA and the practical part at Optomed Canada Diagnostic Eye Center.

The participants were very pleased with the course and requested more ophthalmic trainings on other topics to refresh their knowledge and skills and to stay current with advances in ophthalmology.  By enhancing the professional skills of ophthalmologists and ophthalmic nurses in Armenian marzes, Meghrigian Institute helps to improve the quality of ophthalmic care available to patients living in marzes and prevent avoidable blindness in Armenia.

Garo Meghrigian Institute Completes Ophthalmic Trainings in Gegharkunik and Tavush marzes

Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology conducted a 4-day training on “Ophthalmic Diseases and Modern Diagnostic and Treatment Methods” among ophthalmologists of 4 Gegharkunik and Tavush marzes in May 11-26, 2013. The training course was organized at the

Lions Regional Ophthalmic Unit (ROU) in Sevan. Four of the participants were from Martuni, Gavar and Sevan towns of Gegharkunik marz and two participants were from Ijevan and Berd towns of Tavush marz.  

Dr. Varsik Hakobyan, an Ophthalmic Consultant at Meghrigian Institute and an experienced practicing ophthalmologist, conducted the training course, which covered anatomy and physiology of eyes, refractive errors, main eye diseases, and new methods in diagnostic and treatment procedures. All participants received certificates from the Meghrigian Institute in recognition of successful completion of the course. The training course helped the participants to refresh their knowledge and skills and stay current with advances in ophthalmology. By enhancing the professional skills of ophthalmologists in Armenian marzes, Meghrigian Institute helps to improve the quality of ophthalmic care available to patients living in marzes and prevent avoidable blindness in Armenia.

Garo Meghrigian Institute Continues Ophthalmic Trainings in Gegharkunik Marz 

As part of its mission to educate health providers and establish an ophthalmic care and prevention network to expand service delivery to under-served populations in need of affordable, accessible, and high quality eye care services for prevention and treatment of blindness at all levels the Meghrigian Institute of Preventive Ophthalmology of the Center for Health Services Research and Development continued the series of 2-day trainings on “Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Ophthalmic Diseases at the Primary Health Care Level” in Gegharkunik marz, on September 24-25, 2011. The training course was designed for the primary health care (PHC) nurses and was carried out at the Lions Regional Ophthalmic Unit (ROU) in Sevan.  The 16 participants were from five main cities of Gegharkunik marz: Tchambarak, Vardenis, Gavar, Martuni and Sevan.

Dr. Varsik Hakobyan, Ophthalmic Consultant of Meghrigian Institute, covered the following topics during the training: anatomy and

physiology of eyes, main eye diseases, eye injuries, and diagnostic and treating procedures in ophthalmology; she also covered prevention of eye diseases.  The training course had a specific focus on eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
The PHC nurses of Gegharkunik marz expanded their theoretical and practical skills in ophthalmology.  All participants received a brochure about basics of ophthalmology designed for primary health care nurses.  At the end of the training course participants received certificates from the Meghrigian Institute in recognition of successful completion of the course.

All the participants were very pleased with the 2-day training and expressed their gratitude to the organizers and especially to the instructor Dr. Varsik Hakobyan for her comprehensive and dedicated teaching.

On December 18 -19, 2010 Meghrigian Institute of Preventive Ophthalmology organized 2-day training course on “Diagnosis and Treatment of Ophthalmic Diseases at the Primary Health Care Level” in Gegharkunik marz.

Training course was designed for the primary health care specialists and was carried out at the Lions Regional Ophthalmic Unit (ROU) ) in Sevan.

Primary health care specialists were invited from 5 cities of Gegharkunik marz: Tchambarak, Gavar, Vardenis, Martuni and Sevan. Mainly participants were from Tchambarak, Vardenis and Sevan.   Overall 14 physicians with different specialty (family physicians, therapists, pediatricians and endocrinologists) were completed the course.
Ophthalmic Consultant of Meghrigian Institute of Preventive Ophthalmology, Varsik Hakobyan trained the primary health care specialists covering following topics: anatomy and physiology of the eye, main eye diseases, eye injuries and diagnostic and treating procedures in
ophthalmology.  Participants got theoretical and practical knowledge regarding ophthalmology.  The training course was designed having specific focus on eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.  The primary health care specialists of Gegharkunik marz become more aware of eye diseases, its prevention and diagnosis.
At the end of training course, all participants got certificates for successful completion of the course.  Brochures about basics of ophthalmology and Sivtsev chart were distributed to the participants by the Meghrigian Institute.

Blindness Prevention in Armenia. Setting Priorities (Clinical Conference, October 7, 2002).

Over 100 clinicians representing all levels of ophthalmologic service in Armenia attended this conference which highlighted international perspectives on the epidemiology of eye diseases and population-based strategies to prevent blindness. The keynote speakers were Professor Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS, Dean, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and R. Pararajasegaram, MD, DSc, FRCS, FRCP, FRCOphth, Consultant Ophthalmologist, World Health Organization

 

Seminar on Blindness Prevention in Armenia. Annual Meeting of the Ophthalmic Society of Armenia (Clinical Seminar, September, 2000).

More than 50 ophthalmologists from Yerevan attended the seminar. Among the guests were Sarkis H. Soukiasian, MD, Director, Vision Correction Center (Boston, USA) and Paul C. Barsam, MD, F.A.C.S., Diplomate, American Board of Ophthalmology.