Abstract: Objective To explore the practical dilemmas faced by teachers in the construction of integrated ophthalmology teaching for clinical medicine majors and identify the potential strategies for optimization. Methods A qualitative study was adopted for focus group interview of teacher perspectives through open-ended interview questions. From August to October 2024, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 22 faculty teachers from the Department of Ophthalmology in Peking University Third Hospital by purposive sampling. The transcribed text materials were analyzed by thematic analysis to induce and form interview themes. Results Four core themes were extracted from the interview data: (1) The implementation strategies of the integrated ophthalmology teaching still require further refinement; (2) Teaching content across subspecialties needs systematic reconstruction to fully aligned with the integrated teaching model; (3) Interactive teaching formats should be accurately matched to teaching objectives and knowledge types; (4) The design of teaching case needs to integrate ophthalmology professional knowledge, scientific thinking, and medical humanities connotation, while the enhancement of collaboration among teachers from different disciplines was crucial. Conclusions Constructing standardized teaching implementation paradigms, reconstructing teaching content, and adopting differentiated interactive teaching strategies are essential for advancing the reform of integrated ophthalmology teaching. Additionally, establishing a multidisciplinary collaborative mechanism for teaching case development is necessary to demonstrate the advantages of integrated teaching.

Key words: Ophthalmology, Integrated teaching, Clinical teaching, Curriculum design, Qualitative research