Starting clinic starting January as an OD2

[ronzroyce97]

Hey everyone,

I will be starting clinic starting next semester. I'm excited but also nervous to start. What tips can you guys give me? I feel comfortable with all my skills (refraction, retinoscopy, lensometry, slit lamp), but feel like I don't know everything from all my classes or at least know it in depth. My plan is to review my main principles and practices of optom classes and ocular disease classes. as well as my ocular pharm class before starting. What other classes would you guys recommend reviewing? my weak point is optics so I was thinking of adding that to the list.. I know the expectations for an OD2 starting in the middle of a pandemic are probably not going to be as high as previous classes but I just wanna put myself in the best position to succeed! We were originally supposed to start in the fall but the pandemic shifted that.

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[Optgal96]

Hey, I'll be starting clinic next year too! I was nervous about it but one of my professors gave me some advice and explained what most of the preceptors' expectations are for students. They want us to be able to utilize all the skills we learned properly to be able to locate issues, but most importantly, know how to describe any abnormalities. When you think about it, it makes more sense to know how to describe things and be able to properly document them in charts. It's more important to learn how to come to a diagnosis in a systematic way since not all patients will present with a condition in the same way. We're expected to communicate our findings properly to our preceptors as well. And then together, we come up with the assessment and plans. Obviously, if you can correctly identify any diseases and recall specific treatment, you'll impress the preceptor. But that won't matter if the way you came about that conclusion is in a way that the preceptor thought wasn't efficient.

Also an additional tip I heard from some upperclassmen: As a 3rd year, focus more on your clinical abilities and skills. You won't know everything, but the preceptors don't expect anyone to. And then when you go home that night, review all your cases and understand why the patient received a certain diagnosis, and why the treatment was what it was. Seeing patients in clinic is very different from practicing on young, healthy students in lab. Things are done very differently.

We started clinic as first-years observing 3rd and 4th years, so I had the opportunity to see the dynamics and how students presented their cases after every patient. It's helped my nerves somewhat but I will be brushing up on some things. Such as how to use a lensometer, review some pathology that we've learned so far, and review some common medications that I expect patients will be on (our clinic sees a lot of older patients with glaucoma, HTN, diabetes, cataracts, cholesterol), so I'll be reviewing medications and any cross-reactions those meds may have with any ocular drops. I expect to learn a lot in clinic and I know it's going to get hectic soon, so I'm also just trying to enjoy my winter break as much as I can.

Hope this helped! If you have any tips, I'd love to hear them as well!

Good luck!

 

[Snakedoctor1]

Just dive in, trust your skills and try to think critically. Your mind is so filled with every single possible condition it might be easy to miss the obvious, but that will come with experience (horses, not zebras and all that jazz..) Learn from your dumb mistakes and laugh about them later. I didn't feel "comfortable" with my knowledge and experience until I had been practicing on my own for several months. I don't know anyone who felt "ready" during school. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably a liar