So the first week was done with - it was pretty chill mostly. There were only two labs the whole week, so there were a good amount of gaps in my schedule. There were also a couple of events; the first one was a BBQ that our class organized for the class of 2011. Each year, each member of the new class gets a mentor from the 2nd year class, and this is when we are introduced to our "mentee." The mentors traditionally get together some stuff for their mentees, such as old school files, candy, and other small gifts. Then this past Friday was a welcome back "picnic" for the whole school where Alcon provided the food and drinks. There was also free beer and Smirnoff ice...sweeeeet! The day culminated in a pie-eating contest where a student from each class was selected to eat up an entire whipped cream pie. There was a fourth year student there that won for the last three years, but her title was stolen by a first year!
As for non-school stuff, I finally watched Superbad which was ridiculously funny but also not for the faint-hearted(!!!); if you like American Pie kind of humor, then this movie is for you. On Thursday two of my classmates (Jeff and Efrem) and I went golfing since we got out early (no labs that day). Then that Thursday night a bunch of SCCO students went to Bar 330 in Brea. That bar was at least 80% SCCO students!!! That night was definitely a lot of fun. Lastly, today I attended a wedding...I'm not a big fan of the whole wedding ceremony stuff but the wedding cake was incredibly delicious!!! But yeah that's pretty much what happened this week. I won't have any exams for the next two weeks, but once exams start on week 4, we will be pretty much be thrown into the fire! Ugh...I'm not looking forward to that at all...
Archive for August of 2007
One week down, nine more to go
August 26, 2007School is starting again
August 18, 2007
So starting this coming Monday, school is starting again. Second year is going to be very exciting because I'll be learning the bulk of the basic clinical optometric skills this year, but it's going to be tough!!! It's the actually the toughest year of optometry school (and first quarter of third year is the toughest quarter of all). So basically the difficulty of optometry school continues up and up from the first year and peaks at the first quarter of third year. It peaks at that point because of this huge proficiency called "12 stations." This is a cumulative proficiency exam that tests all of the clinical skills you've learned to that point, including refraction, ocular health procedures, etc. I forget the exact passing cut-off but it's something like 80%. And if you fail, there are serious consequences, but I forget - I have to get back to you on that.
But yeah, 2nd year is really tough because we'll be doing 21.5-22.5 units a quarter. Here is a link to our curriculum. I can remember how busy the 2nd years were when I was a first year - they were always studying or practicing their skills and therefore I didn't see nearly as many of them going out. Arghh...and now that's going to be me now - all cooped up in textbooks, and practicing for many hours in the pre-clinic lab. Well that's all for now - keep posted to find out more about what kinds of new skills I'll be learning this quarter!
But yeah, 2nd year is really tough because we'll be doing 21.5-22.5 units a quarter. Here is a link to our curriculum. I can remember how busy the 2nd years were when I was a first year - they were always studying or practicing their skills and therefore I didn't see nearly as many of them going out. Arghh...and now that's going to be me now - all cooped up in textbooks, and practicing for many hours in the pre-clinic lab. Well that's all for now - keep posted to find out more about what kinds of new skills I'll be learning this quarter!
Why I didn't do dentistry
August 07, 2007
I went to the dentist yesterday and this morning and I was reminded why I didn't do Dentistry. The cleaning yesterday was horrible - I think this is the first time I've had a dentist scrape my teeth with an ultrasonic scraper (I don't know the exact term). But that scraper was so painful!!! And the dentist did not even tell me that it will hurt. My gums were so sore afterwards. This morning I had some fillings done and I forgot about the HUGE needle that they use to numb my jaw! That thing looked like it can be used as a prop in the Saw movie series! The injection wasn't as painful as yesterday, but the discomfort level was up there! Right now as I type, my left jaw is sore and numb so it's hard to control my drooling...ugh. Thank goodness I won't have to inflict pain like Dentists do every day, and I won't have to stick my hands in people's mouths. And I really don't care that they make more than Optometrists...Dentistry is just not for me!!!
The rest of my Hawaii trip
August 01, 2007
Sorry it's been a while since my last update, but here it is! I unfortunately forgot all the details of my last week of my internship. But here are some observations I have made based on my experience with Army optometry:
1) Army optometrists have a very wide breadth of practice; you have the potential to use your entire scope if you want to, including the knowledge you'll learn with low vision, vision therapy, ocular disease, etc. In fact, the optometrist I worked with at Schofield has had training in minor surgeries as well!!! She has practiced just about everything in the limits of her scope and probably even beyond because Army optometry is not under State law, but Federal law, so there are different limits in that case. A huge reason for advances in optometric practice was really because of military optometry, and this dates back to the Vietnam War when the military trained optometrists way beyond their scope, including minor eye surgeries. So then these optometrists came back home from the war and lobbied to practice what they learned during the war. Here is an article that talks more about the history (MS Word document).
2) Educational advancement is definitely available for you, and the Army has various programs for you to further your knowledge and in some cases pays for such programs, including residencies and residency + MBA programs. The Army also allows extra leave time for Continuing Education (CE) every year.
3) There will always be lots of "consults," which are referrals from other military doctors who need your ocular expertise. The optometrists that I worked with got a lot of exposure to eye diseases this way...just look at all the interesting cases you've seen in my previous blog entries! Basically, in the civilian world you'll have to know the other docs around town to get referrals but in Army optometry, such referrals are basically a given!
4) The optical tech training that the Army provides is exceptional; the techs that I met at Schofield and Tripler were very knowledgeable about their work. I have a lot of respect for their expertise and surprisingly some of them knew a great deal of what optometrists know including refractions, direct ophthalmoscopy, retinoscopy, and slit lamp!
5) This internship provided me the opportunity to practice the skills I have learned in first year, and also has given me a head start on what I will be learning in the coming year. On top of that, I got more exposure to patients than I have had in my entire undergrad and first year of optometry school combined (over 250 hours of patient care time). This is definitely a huge advantage of the Army HPSP.
6) However, there are some negative aspects to Army Optometry as well. Two big ones are paperwork and admin duties. As you go up higher in rank, your responsibilities increase as well and so your patient care time could be reduced since you have to attend to such duties. This includes operational tasks (running the clinic), charting patient data on the computer, keeping track of supplies and equipment, etc. But I know these responsibilities are true anyway for private practice owners. That's why you have a right hand person, your Optometry NCOIC (Noncommissioned Officer In Charge), who basically acts as the office manager. But the one thing that you can't avoid that much is paperwork, and this is just a fact of life in the military.
By the way here are some pictures from my actual vacation in Hawaii, after my internship. My girlfriend came near the end of my internship and we did tons of stuff in Hawaii!!!
1) Army optometrists have a very wide breadth of practice; you have the potential to use your entire scope if you want to, including the knowledge you'll learn with low vision, vision therapy, ocular disease, etc. In fact, the optometrist I worked with at Schofield has had training in minor surgeries as well!!! She has practiced just about everything in the limits of her scope and probably even beyond because Army optometry is not under State law, but Federal law, so there are different limits in that case. A huge reason for advances in optometric practice was really because of military optometry, and this dates back to the Vietnam War when the military trained optometrists way beyond their scope, including minor eye surgeries. So then these optometrists came back home from the war and lobbied to practice what they learned during the war. Here is an article that talks more about the history (MS Word document).
2) Educational advancement is definitely available for you, and the Army has various programs for you to further your knowledge and in some cases pays for such programs, including residencies and residency + MBA programs. The Army also allows extra leave time for Continuing Education (CE) every year.
3) There will always be lots of "consults," which are referrals from other military doctors who need your ocular expertise. The optometrists that I worked with got a lot of exposure to eye diseases this way...just look at all the interesting cases you've seen in my previous blog entries! Basically, in the civilian world you'll have to know the other docs around town to get referrals but in Army optometry, such referrals are basically a given!
4) The optical tech training that the Army provides is exceptional; the techs that I met at Schofield and Tripler were very knowledgeable about their work. I have a lot of respect for their expertise and surprisingly some of them knew a great deal of what optometrists know including refractions, direct ophthalmoscopy, retinoscopy, and slit lamp!
5) This internship provided me the opportunity to practice the skills I have learned in first year, and also has given me a head start on what I will be learning in the coming year. On top of that, I got more exposure to patients than I have had in my entire undergrad and first year of optometry school combined (over 250 hours of patient care time). This is definitely a huge advantage of the Army HPSP.
6) However, there are some negative aspects to Army Optometry as well. Two big ones are paperwork and admin duties. As you go up higher in rank, your responsibilities increase as well and so your patient care time could be reduced since you have to attend to such duties. This includes operational tasks (running the clinic), charting patient data on the computer, keeping track of supplies and equipment, etc. But I know these responsibilities are true anyway for private practice owners. That's why you have a right hand person, your Optometry NCOIC (Noncommissioned Officer In Charge), who basically acts as the office manager. But the one thing that you can't avoid that much is paperwork, and this is just a fact of life in the military.
By the way here are some pictures from my actual vacation in Hawaii, after my internship. My girlfriend came near the end of my internship and we did tons of stuff in Hawaii!!!