Outpatient US Clinical Experience in Ophthalmology in Phoenix

Information about this clinical experience:

This is an outpatient experience where you will be under the supervision of a board-certified ophthalmologist. Over three plus decades, this preceptor has provided high-quality care to patients with a range of eye problems. Educating students has also been a major focus of the practice. The physician is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona Phoenix College of Medicine and will soon be a core faculty member of the newly established ophthalmology residency program at the University of Arizona in Phoenix.

During this clinical experience, rotators will spend two days in clinic seeing patients with general ophthalmological problems as well as consultations for surgeries. This will be an excellent opportunity to understand how patients with a variety of eye problems are diagnosed and managed. Preoperative consultations will provide you with insight into how an ophthalmologist discusses the benefits and risks of procedures, evaluates patients for their readiness to undergo these operations, and answers questions. Time spent in the clinic with the technician and the ophthalmologist will allow you to become more comfortable with the technology and equipment used to evaluate patients, including optical coherence tomography, perimetry, and slit lamp.

Three days per week will be spent in the ambulatory surgery center observing surgeries. On a typical surgery day, this attending performs approximately 10 surgeries. For learners who are more interested in the nonsurgical aspects of ophthalmology, there is an option to spend time with the physician’s colleagues on surgery days. Please note that these colleagues are optometrists rather than ophthalmologists.

Because this ophthalmologist is very specialized, the clinical experience will be largely observational. To make the most of this clinical experience, we recommend that you focus your learning on common ophthalmological complaints (e.g., itching, pain, redness, tearing, visual changes) and conditions (e.g., cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration). We recommend using the following resource to maximize your learning:

The Eye Exam

The Eyes Have It