Enhancing eye care training: a comprehensive rubric for retinoscopy

Clin Exp Optom. 2026 Feb 9:1-11. doi: 10.1080/08164622.2026.2616029. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Retinoscopy is an important ophthalmic technique for objectively assessing refractive errors and detecting ocular abnormalities, especially in patients unable to undergo subjective refraction. The development and standardisation of retinoscopy rubrics foster a more equitable and consistent learning experience for trainees, ultimately leading to improved patient care.

BACKGROUND: Retinoscopy is an essential skill in ophthalmic examination. Despite the use of various rubrics in eye care, standardised rubric for retinoscopy is still unavailable. This study aims to develop and validate a comprehensive rubric for retinoscopy, addressing the lack of standardised assessment tools in optometric and ophthalmic education.

METHODS: The authors developed a retinoscopy rubric, which was assessed for face and content validity by an international group of optometry educators. Cohen's alpha was calculated to determine interobserver reliability.

RESULTS: The final rubric consists of 19 individual items for performance criteria. The revised rubric demonstrated face validity, with an overall percentage of agreement of 95.71%. The content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.99. Most of the individual rubric items showed moderate to strong interobserver reliability.

CONCLUSION: The retinoscopy rubric, a validated evaluation tool for objective refraction, demonstrates strong validity and reliability. It holds significant potential to enhance ophthalmic education by providing a consistent and effective framework for assessing retinoscopy skills.

PMID:41662769 | DOI:10.1080/08164622.2026.2616029