Ophthalmology

rotation generally begins at 8 am. Janna Nelson will let you know about any exceptions. You’ll get an email assigning you
to a resident to work with and where to report for the week and how to get in touch with the resident by pager and email.

Goals & Objectives

take an ophthalmic history, perform a basic chair-side eye exam and learn to differentiate routine problems from urgent
and emergent problems. You should be able to check vision, check pupils, perform an exam of the eyes with a penlight
and use the direct ophthalmoscope to assess the optic nerve and retinal vasculature.

a basic understanding of the most important eye conditions including red eye, cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration,
amblyopia and strabismus, acute vision loss and diabetic retinopathy.

Day to Day Experiences

You will work with the residents on the Comprehensive Eye Service, in the Emergency Department and on ophthalmic
subspecialty rotations.
When the resident you have been assigned to is absent (usually due to being sent home post call) you will have the
opportunity to work on the ophthalmology inpatient consult service or on the emergency department service with the
residents assigned to these duties.
Clinical duties generally start at 8 am and finish when the last patient is finished. You are required to attend
Ophthalmology Grand Rounds. These take place most weeks at 7 am in room BST 120. Check www.ophed.net for the
schedule and the material to be covered.

OR
Each student will be assigned to observe ophthalmic surgery in the OR for one half-day during the rotation. Surgery may
take place at operating rooms in Mercy, Montefiore, Presbyterian, Shadyside, South Side or St Margaret’s. Assignments
are usually made on the first day of the rotation. Please remember that eye patients are usually awake during their surgery
and act appropriately. You are encouraged to read up on the cases to be done before arriving in the OR.

Call
Each student should plan to stay one late night with the ophthalmology resident on call at the Oakland campus. You will
arrange which night you stay with the residents. The requirement is to stay until 10 pm but you may choose to stay
through the night. Students will be released from clinical duties the next day when necessary.

Evaluations
Please submit one copy of your SCC evaluation form to the resident you worked most closely with during the rotation.
The minimum requirement for passing the rotation is on-time arrival for clinical experiences and professional, appropriate
and safe behavior with patients. You will receive higher evaluative marks as you are seen to demonstrate the skills listed
above under the topic heading “Goals & Objectives”

Small group sessions

Four small group sessions will be scheduled during the SCC month. These will generally take place on Wednesday
mornings at 7 am in room Scaife Room 349:

1) Ophthalmology Made Easy – a PowerPoint presentation that covers

a. Measuring and Recording Visual Acuity
b. Evaluation of a Red Eye
c. Evaluation of a Traumatized Eye
d. Evaluation of Eye Movement Disorders
e. Evaluation of Abnormal Pupils
f. Initiation of Management and Referral

2) Cataract Case Conference and Glaucoma Case Conference – this is a roundtable discussion session. Please read
the web material, the appropriate sections in the text and come prepared to discuss the cases.
 3) Macular Degeneration Case Conference and Pediatric Ophthalmology Case Conference – this is a roundtable
discussion session. Please read the web material, the appropriate sections in the text and come prepared to discuss
the cases.

4) Acute Vision Loss – this is a roundtable discussion session. Please read the web material, the appropriate sections
in the text and come prepared to discuss the cases. Please attempt to fill in the handout to the best of your ability.

Reading Material
You are strongly encouraged to review basic eye anatomy and review the web material on the basic eye exam prior to
beginning the clinical rotation. The required text for the course is Basic Ophthalmology edited by Cynthia Bradford. You
will loaned a copy of this book at the beginning of the SCC course. You are responsible for the material in the text in its
entirety. In addition, you are responsible for the content of the handouts associated with the small group sessions and the
material discussed during these sessions. The handouts and associated PowerPoint talks are available on the SCC section
of the Navigator web site. Material related to diabetic retinopathy – a handout and PowerPoint lecture have been posted
to the site. You are responsible for the content in these materials even though they are not covered in a small group
session.

Written Exam
The ophthalmology portion of the SCC written exam consists of ten questions pulled randomly each month from a pool of
questions. Some are multiple choice, some are short answer, many are associated with photographs and illustrations. The
subject material is drawn from the required reading and web material.