This past Wednesday I had a patient with a retinal hole, so I performed a technique called scleral depression. Basically what happens is that a small blunt ended instrument - usually a thin metal rod, or a even a cotton-tipped applicator - is pressed onto the eye either directly onto the globe or indirectly against the outer skin of the eyelid. What happens is that the tip applies pressure onto the retina from the outside and creates a greyish bump as you view inside the eye with the BIO.

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This past Saturday, April 10th I took my last and third national board exam, also known as NBEO Part III. This is a purely clinical exam where we see patients and perform 18 different optometric techniques. I took the exam in Fullerton, at our school which was the best bet for any SCCO student of course, since we were already familiar with the equipment in the clinic there. We entered into the main lecture hall building to meet up for a brief orientation. Prior to entering the building, we were required to remove or cover up anything that identifies our names or what school we attend - including anything on our lab coats and equipment. We were also presented with a list of required equipment to bring since there are certain items that will not be provided. We were also given a label that has our candidate ID number and it also has what order we will proceed with each station (out of the 4 stations). We were then given an orientation that talked about the logistics of the exam, etc. Afterwards we entered the clinic and proceeded with testing.

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On this coming Saturday, I'll be taking my third and last part of the optometry national boards. Previously it was taken as a two-part exam, the Patient Assessment and Management (PAM) portion, which was written, and the Clinical Skills Examination (CSE) portion, which is a hands-on practical. However, the new Part II (which I took last December) has the PAM portion embedded into it so now Part III is just the CSE. This exam is a four station practical, 30 minutes each, that tests on different clinical skills (you can see the different skills in this link here).

Pretty much all of the skills on this exam are techniques that we have been doing since we started working in the clinic, so the techniques are not really that difficult. However, the challenging part of this exam is the fact that we are not doing the techniques in the order we are used to, and we have to be able to tell our findings at certain points and in a certain way. Overall though, students at SCCO has been very successful in passing Part III - we've historically had something like a 98-99% pass rate (don't quote me on this). I'm not surprised with this because the techniques we learned has been drilled in our heads repeatedly, and also we had the mother of all proficiencies (aka 12 Station - see past blogs). So proficiencies are second nature to us! However, I've been practicing the procedures (especially in the manner in which we are tested) just to make sure I won't be that 1%...! Once the exam is done, I'll make sure to update you all on how it goes down.

Oh and one more thing - Happy Easter everyone!