About Oogheelkunde-UpToDate

Our mission

At Oogheelkunde-UpToDate, our mission is to advance ophthalmic knowledge and enhance the quality of eye care in the Netherlands and beyond. We accomplish this by providing fully independent, accredited continuing education courses that are firmly grounded in clinical practice and designed to support evidence-based patient care.

We strongly believe in the importance of sharing knowledge within the ophthalmic community. Our platform facilitates the exchange of expertise among experienced clinicians, ophthalmology residents, physician associates, and allied eye care professionals, including optometrists and orthoptists.

Through an innovative and accessible online learning environment, Oogheelkunde-UpToDate enables healthcare professionals to maintain and further develop their knowledge and clinical competencies in a flexible and efficient manner.

We wish you a valuable and enriching learning experience with our courses.

The Ophthalmology UpToDate Team
2026

How did the idea for Oogheelkunde-UpToDate originate?

As a vitreoretinal surgeon, I experience how challenging it is to stay up to date with the latest developments in general ophthalmology as well as other subspecialties. In addition, I observed in daily practice that referring physicians often need practical guidance on the follow-up and referral of patients with retinal pathology. This need extends broadly across other areas within ophthalmology as well.

What do you personally consider important when attending continuing education?

I find continuing education most valuable when it is practice-oriented and structured in a modular way, making it directly applicable in daily clinical practice. I also often look for online courses that place strong emphasis on case-based learning and that can be followed at my own pace, allowing me to revisit the material for review after some time.

What do you feel is missing in the current continuing education landscape?

Nothing can replace live events with colleagues; they are enjoyable and offer direct interaction that cannot be matched by online education. However, I personally find that the learning effect of such educational days is often limited, largely because my concentration span tends to decrease after about two hours. In addition, I often miss the ability to revisit and review the information afterwards.

On our platform, we address this by ensuring that all content remains accessible via computer, tablet, or smartphone, allowing participants to review courses for up to one year.

What have you learned from providing continuing education yourself?

I have learned that developing a high-quality course requires a significant amount of time, particularly when it comes to collecting relevant case-based material, which can take months or even years. I have also observed that truly valuable “clinical pearls” often emerge only after specialists have spent many years working within a subspecialty and engaging in scientific research. I have often regarded these insights as valuable “gifts” from colleagues, which are highly useful in daily clinical practice.

In addition, I noticed that for certain courses, the same participants often return after a year. This made me realise the importance of repetition, especially in ophthalmology, where certain conditions are relatively rare in routine practice.

When providing continuing education for physician associates, I have observed a strong interest in ophthalmic topics across the full breadth of the specialty. The modular structure of the courses can serve both as a refresher of existing knowledge and as an initial step towards developing new competencies or EPAs. We are seeing a similar demand for modular education among optometrists as well. Optometrists are deployed in a wide range of clinical settings, and those working in clinical practice increasingly express the need for structured modular continuing education. By completing courses with knowledge assessments and certification, they are able to formally document and validate their competencies.

Who are the courses intended for?

The courses are intended for ophthalmologists, residents in ophthalmology (AIOS), physician associates, orthoptists, and optometrists. I started my career in optometry and have worked across the full ophthalmic care pathway, providing and attending many forms of continuing education. One thing that stands out to me is the consistent strong interest in knowledge development throughout the field.

As an ophthalmologist, I frequently find that my background in optometry and clinical optics remains highly valuable, just as optometrists and physician assistants benefit from insights into patient management after referral to an ophthalmologist. This insight led to the idea of developing a platform where all professionals across the ophthalmic care chain can come together: ophthalmologists, physician associates, and optometrists.

Who delivers the courses?

A key strength of our platform is that the courses are developed and delivered by ophthalmologists with subspecialty expertise. They work across the Netherlands in both peripheral clinics and academic hospitals. By adequately compensating content creators, we ensure quality and continuity, enabling us to provide up-to-date and highly relevant educational content.

What is the current status of the platform?

We aim to launch in the second quarter of 2024 with 3 to 5 presentations, and to expand to approximately six courses by mid-2025. In 2026, we plan to further develop the platform and continue expanding the number of available courses.

The Ophthalmology UpToDate team places great emphasis on quality. The quality of the courses is prioritized well above the speed of rollout on the platform.