4. Candidates must provide evidence of surgical experience in Strabismus and Paediatric Ophthalmology

All candidates must have successfully completed 60 surgical procedures as primary surgeon.

For candidates primarily interested in Strabismus at least 50 of these should be strabismus procedures, including horizontal rectus surgery, vertical rectus surgery, oblique muscle surgery. A maximum of ten of these procedures in total may be minor procedures such as Botulinum toxin injections, lacrimal probings or incision of cysts. What constitutes a minor procedure will be determined by the Examination Board.

For candidates primarily interested in Paediatric Ophthalmology, at least 30 of these should be strabismus procedures and a minimum of 10 paediatric, non-strabismus procedures of at least three different types.
A maximum of ten of these procedures in total may be minor procedures such as intraocular injections, lacrimal probings or incision of cysts. What constitutes a minor procedure will be determined by the Examination Board.

A record of the prerequisite surgical procedures and experience must be certified by Surgical Log and submitted in English. This must be signed and validated by the Fellowship Director or person of equivalent standing who satisfies the criteria to be an ICO Fellowship director.

For each surgical procedure the record must include:

· Procedure performed; including one or both eye(s)

· Date the procedure was performed

· Date of birth of patient

The log must not include the patient’s name or address

For audit purposes, the Joint Examination Board reserves the right to inspect a copy of the original record of any surgical procedure, with the patient’s name and address removed.

Please email ebo@ebo-online.org with any queries.

Multiple Choice Paper

There will be one multiple choice paper of 2 1/2 hours with 75 questions.
The question format will be the same as for current EBO papers (i.e. 5 independent responses to each stem question with negative marking).
Question stems may include pictures and results of clinical investigations such as Hess Charts and Fields of Binocular Single Vision. Questions will be approximately equally distributed between paediatric and adult strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology and will be primarily intended to test factual knowledge.

Oral Examinations

There will be four oral examinations of 15 minutes each, two primarily in paediatric and adult strabismus and two primarily in paediatric ophthalmology. However any topic related to paediatric strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology may be examined in any oral examination

The oral examinations will primarily test the candidates’ ability to diagnose, investigate and manage both children and adults with strabismus and children with other eye conditions and their understanding and interpretation of basic and clinical research relevant to strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology. During this exam, images, videos or clinical charts may be presented.

Joint Examination Board

For more information on the Responsibilities and Governance of the Joint Examination Board for Strabismus and Paediatric Ophthalmology please click here

Appeals

Unsuccessful candidates have the right to appeal to the Joint Examination Board for Strabismus and Paediatric Ophthalmology if they believe that they have not been judged fairly. The Board must receive such appeals within three months of the date of examination. The Board will respond to the Candidate in writing within three months of the receipt of the appeal. Should a candidate (successful or otherwise) seek a breakdown of their results, they must submit this request in writing to the secretary of the Joint Examination Board.

The decision of the Joint Examination Board for Strabismus and Paedriatric Ophthalmology in relation to all academic aspects of the examination shall be final.