For many of us, one of the real impacts of Covid-19 has been the ‘shrinking’ of our worlds. By removing our ability to travel, to see friends or family and to go out to pubs, restaurants, theatres or sporting events it means more of our lives than ever are spent within the same four walls. However, while our physical space may, literally, be set in stone there are no such limits to our virtual world and the strengthening of our online capabilities has been one of the few bright spots to emerge from the pandemic.
If the ‘real’ world getting smaller is seen as a negative than it has be counterbalanced with the positives of the virtual world also getting ever more closely knit. Geographical boundaries have never been so meaningless and we are now building a truly global community capable of communicating, commissioning and collaborating at the click of a mouse.
This development, made possible by continued advances in technology, is tremendously exciting for all of us in eye care and means we can work together to learn from each other and provide the best possible care for our patients no matter where we are in the world. We are an international, cross-border community and we have never been closer.
The April edition of Contact Lens and Anterior Eye will feature the long-awaited publication of the Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic Reports (Clear) – a global consensus report put together by the BCLA featuring work from panels of globally respected experts.
This will be the go-to guide for ECPs fitting contact lenses, a little like the TFOS DEWS2 is a reference for dry eye and the International Myopia Institute white papers have become a standard for anyone involved in myopia management. The hope is that ECPs will regularly use the Clear report to improve their clinical knowledge and use best practice when seeing patients in the consulting room. It will make a tangible, long-lasting difference to eye health.
Putting this together during lockdown has obviously been a challenge but many of our authors are used to working in many different ways and have taken to working remotely amazingly well. Using cloud-based storage has allowed authors unlimited, round-the-clock access and the ability to share articles and ideas in real time. Like many of us, working virtually has become a fact of life and further proof of the adaptability and resilience that we see every day in the profession.
Clear is an exciting, agenda-setting piece of work and will no doubt form a central point of reference for the BCLA Clinical Conference later this year. We look forward to releasing them shortly.
Indie Grewal
President, BCLA