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Orbis's Cybersight platform reaches 100,000 registered users, receives $1 million donation
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According to the organization, professionals from almost every country and territory across the globe—including nearly 15% of the world's ophthalmologists—have trained on the platform.
Dr. Battsetseg, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, virtually consults with Orbis Volunteer Faculty member Ron Pelton, MD, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to discuss a patient with a complicated ophthalmic case. (Image credit: Geoff Oliver Bugbee/Orbis International)
Cybersight, a telemedicine and e-learning platform created by eye care nonprofit organization Orbis International, has reached 100,000 registered users.
The organization noted it is marking the milestone by announcing a $1 million endowment for Cybersight and naming the Cybersight library after Orbis Volunteer Faculty member Eugene Helveston, MD, the platform's founder.1
The $1 million donation is from an anonymous ophthalmologist.
The platform marked its 20th anniversary in 2023, and started to see a surge in its user base at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic in February 2020, it had about 20,400 users. Today, a little more than 4 years later it has almost 5 times as many users.1
According to the organization, when the pandemic limited in-person learning options and many organizations were forced to pivot and offer their efforts online, Orbis already had the technology at the ready to enable remote training at scale. The continued rapid growth following the pandemic indicates the strong need for virtual learning and mentorship in eye care around the world.
Moreover, the platform offers training, mentoring, and online courses to eye care professionals—including ophthalmologists, optometrists, anesthesiologists, residents, nurses, and others—around the world. Cybersight has trained eye care professionals in nearly every country and territory across the globe. About 15% of ophthalmologists in the world are registered users.
"Cybersight is a vital resource for the eye care community around the globe, and we are so proud of its growth and extensive reach," Hunter Cherwek, MD, vice president of Clinical Services and Technologies at Orbis International, said in the news release. "The support from this endowment will help us keep expanding access and content so more eye care professionals from all over the world can benefit."
Moreover, expanding access to ophthalmic training is key in a world where 90% of all vision loss—representing around 1 billion people—is completely avoidable. The lack of access to training in low- and middle-income countries, home to 9 out of 10 people with vision loss, means that a virtual training platform can have a tremendous impact, providing users with learning resources they cannot access elsewhere. Cost is never a barrier as Orbis offers all of its resources and tools for free.1
According to the news release, Helveston created the world's first internet-based ophthalmic telemedicine program in 1998. He used email—then a relatively new communication method—to field questions from colleagues around the world and quickly reply with advice. This training program gained strength as internet connectivity spread and technology advanced, and in 2003, Orbis launched Cybersight to streamline and update the platform that Helveston had created.
Helveston noted in the news release that the platform has continued to grow because a new Orbis project was gradually improved over 2 decades by dedicated staff and volunteers.
“In the beginning, around 1998, there were only a few of us involved with Cybersight, and we had no idea that this small project would reach the heights it has achieved,” he said in the release. “Now, thanks to many, Cybersight is growing the platform to serve better and reach more, and that's why we take satisfaction in the numbers achieved."
According to the organization, its Cybersight library2 is free, open-access repository of ophthalmic and other medical knowledge, with resources in 9 languages. It contains more than 1,000 surgical videos, quizzes, textbooks and manuals, and simulation training resources.
With the endowment, this resource will now be known as The Eugene Helveston Cybersight e-Library.
Cybersight also offers online courses, 50% in a language other than English. Another of its main functions is putting eye care professionals in touch with expert volunteers who provide on-demand advice for complex cases, a service that has helped more than 30,000 patients globally. The platform also broadcasts live lectures and surgeries on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital to work with hospitals and classrooms around the world.1
Cybersight AI,3 an artificial intelligence tool, was recently added to the platform. According to the news release, it can detect signs of common eye diseases in seconds by examining digital photographs of the back of the eye. This game-changing tool increases early detection of treatable conditions like diabetic retinopathy, helping more patients avoid vision loss.
References:
International O. Orbis’s Cybersight Platform Reaches 100,000 Registered Users and Receives $1 Million Donation. www.prnewswire.com. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/orbiss-cybersight-platform-reaches-100-000-registered-users-and-receives-1-million-donation-302209057.html
Library. Cybersight. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cybersight.org/library/
AI-driven Automated Interpretation for Fundus Images. Cybersight. https://cybersight.org/ai-consult/
