Off-Campus Residency

Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
San Francisco, CA

The Ideal Location to Continue Your Clinical Optometric Training

Primary Care Optometry Residency
(3 Positions)
July 1 to June 30

The Department of Veterans Affairs is an Equal Opportunity Employer

(Affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry)

Application Deadline: February 1

Links

VA Optometry Service: www.va.gov/optometry
(Click on "Education and Training")

SFVAMC: www.sanfrancisco.va.gov/
(Click on "About Us")

Optometric Residency Matching Service: www.optometryresident.org

Description

he San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) offers three positions in a one-year postgraduate residency in primary care optometry affiliated with University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry. The program is designed to provide advanced competency in clinical skills and scholarly development of the resident. Primarily through direct patient care and supplemented with seminars, conferences, lectures, and grand rounds, residents should significantly improve their competency and confidence in the areas of vision care, diagnosis, knowledge of clinical studies, critical clinical thinking skills, and patient management. Upon completion of the program the resident should be of the caliber to make a significant contribution to optometric clinical education or the practice of optometry in a multidisciplinary health care setting.

SFVAMC initiated a hospital-based optometry program in 1985. A primary care position was added in1994. The two positions were integrated into a primary care curriculum in 1998. A third position was added in 2003. The program is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (243 N. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO, 63141-7881).

• To enhance the residents' proficiency and develop advanced clinical competency in providing high-quality primary eye/vision care for the patients of this medical center.
• To develop the residents' ability to function as a member of the health care team through participation in a multidisciplinary health delivery system.
• To enhance the residents' scholarly development in the knowledge of clinical eye care and communication of that knowledge.
• To prepare the residents for a career in the clinical practice of optometry in a multidisciplinary clinical practice setting or optometric clinical education.

Located on a hill overlooking the Golden Gate and Pacific Ocean, seven miles west of downtown San Francisco, the SFVAMC Medical Center complex includes a 124-bed acute care medical surgical hospital, a 120-bed nursing home facility, and ambulatory care clinics offering primary and specialty care with over 250,000 visits annually. SFVAMC is a major teaching center affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). This provides a highly skilled and talented medical staff that is committed to excellence in patient care, clinical education, and research. The affiliated Berkeley Optometry is well recognized for its outstanding contributions to vision research and clinical education. The synergy between quality clinical care, clinical teaching, and inquisitive thinking is part of the SFVAMC institutional culture. The combined resources and scholarly excellence of these institutions makes SFVAMC a very attractive place for an outstanding optometry residency program.

• Bernard J. Dolan, SFVA Staff Optometrist (1981), Clinical Professor
  • B.S., Biology, University of San Francisco
  • M.S., Biology, University of San Francisco
  • B.S., Physiological Optics, University of California, Berkeley
  • O.D., Optometry, University of California, Berkeley
  • Residency, Hospital-Based/Rehabilitative Optometry, VA Medical Center, Kansas City, MO
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry
    
    
• Andrew B. Mick, SFVA Staff Optometrist (2002), Assistant Clinical Professor
  • B.S., Biology, University of Michigan
  • O.D., Optometry, University of California, Berkeley
  • Residency in Ocular Disease, Bascom Palmer Institute, Miami, FL
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry
    

The program emphasizes learning through direct patient care with the residents having direct patient care responsibilities at SFVA Eye Clinic under the supervision of the program faculty, four and one-half days per week. Five hours per week are spent in attendance at the weekly optometry conference, ophthalmology grand rounds, and fluorescein angiography conference. The residents may attend Medicine Service Grand Rounds and Resident Conference during the noon hour. A few hours per week may be available for independent study.

The SFVA Eye Clinic has about 13,000 patient visits per year. The clinical experience includes primary eye examinations and follow-up examinations for patients with ocular disease and the manifestations of systemic disease, low vision evaluations, and a modest experience with medically indicated contact lens fittings and follow-up. The residents may participate in anterior segment and fundus photography. The patient population is predominately middle-aged to elderly males, with a high incidence of ocular disease. The most common diagnoses are cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other retinal vascular disorders. Immediate consultation with UCSF ophthalmology residents and attending staff is available within the clinic. A good working relationship exists between optometry and ophthalmology. The primary care emphasis encourages interaction with physicians in the primary medical and specialty clinics.

Each examination room is equipped current standard examination equipment. Additional clinical equipment includes Humphrey and Goldmann perimeters, frequency doubling technology, spectral and time domain optical coherence tomography, Heidelberg retinal tomograph, Ziess digital fundus camera, Cannon non-mydratic digital fundus camera, digital photo slit-lamp, corneal topography, UBM and A or B scan ultrasound, pachometers, auto-refractor/keratometer, potential acuity meter, as well as modest contact lens and low vision equipment.

• The Residency year is from July 1 to June 30
• Hours from 8 a.m. to approximately 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Urgent care follow-up may involve patient care outside these hours, but there are no on-call responsibilities.

• Apply through and participate in ORMS matching program at www.optometryresident.org.
• Be a US citizen (required for all VA funded optometry training positions).
• Graduate from an ACOE-accredited school or college of optometry prior to matriculation into the program.
• Pass National Board of Examiners in Optometry Part I and Part II, prior to ORMS match.
• Provide the program with curriculum vitae, personal statement, official transcripts of optometric education, unofficial results of National Boards of Examiners in Optometry, and three letters of recommendation.
• A personal visit to the residency site for an interview is highly encouraged.

• Journal Club reviews current and significant past literature in the management of ocular disorders.
• Each resident presents three formal oral case reports at Berkeley Optometry Affiliated Resident Lecture Series and a manuscript of a clinical case report or literature review suitable for publication.
• The residents participate in clinical teaching of fourth year optometry students under supervision of the staff optometrist and present in the weekly optometry clinical conference.
• Residents are encouraged to attend continuing education programs of Berkeley Optometry, available at no or modest cost, and professional meetings held in the area.

Successful completion of the program requires satisfactory completion of a minimum of 1,200 direct patient encounters, three  oral presentations at resident conferences, completion of patient logs and outcomes assessments, and completion of an acceptable manuscript. Upon successful completion of the program, a certificate will be awarded by Berkeley Optometry and SFVA.

Literature searches, library catalogues, Internet access, and many full-text electronic journals are available via the California Digital Library on computers in each examination room.

Residents have borrowing privileges at SFVA Medical Library, UCSF Kalmanovitz Library and UC Berkeley Libraries including the Fong Optometry & Health Sciences Library at Berkeley Optometry. Through these resources, residents have access to several thousand books, print and full-text electronic journals, including the major clinical and research journals in vision.

• 12 days of annual leave (vacation)
• 12 days of sick leave
• Authorized absence (educational leave) for outside educational activities (limit 10 days)
• Professional liability covered under the Federal Tort Claims Act
• Health care insurance

For more information please contact:

Supervisor: Bernard Dolan, OD, MS
VAMC Eye Clinic 112-A
4150 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 221-4810 x 2683

Bernard.dolan@med.va.gov