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Externship Categories and Student Selection Process

Externship sites are selected and continuously evaluated on basic criteria:

1) the stability of the host affiliate

2) sufficiency of patient volume to meet clinical education objectives

3) complexity of cases encountered to meet clinical education objectives (i.e. patient diversity and types of diagnoses)

4) quality of attending optometrists who must also meet criteria for appointment to Berkeley Optometry clinical faculty. Part of the evaluation process of externship sites is based on feedback from systematic survey of students assigned to the externship sites.

5) didactic components such as journal club, seminars, grand rounds to augment the patient care experience.

Goals of Externships: Along with In-House clinics, externships help ensure that all 4th year students have similar and balanced experiences in order to prepare students for the independent practice of Optometry. Each 4th year student has a minimum of three unique external rotations. Of those three rotations, each student must have the following:

  • One Ocular Disease/Medical Rotation (Category M)
  • One Primary Care Rotation (Category P)

Category M (Ocular Disease/Medical):

Externships in Category M contain the following:

  • Patient populations with a high rate of ocular and systemic disease.
  • Patient populations with specifically high prevalence of commonly occurring ocular diseases including glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular disease, and vitreoretinal disorders.
  • Patient numbers and clinical space that allow a robust exposure to ocular diseases.
  • Schedule that places the extern in the high disease clinical setting every day.
  • Schedule that, when outside of the high disease clinical setting, contains quality didactic substitutions such as journal clubs, case conferences, and grand rounds presentations
  • Structure that student externs do the complete exam, rather than observe, the majority of patient exposures.
  • Exceptional patient populations, uniquely qualified clinical faculty, broad extra-clinical didactic programs, and advanced educational resources to compensate when the majority of clinical experience is observational.
  • Faculty that have privileges that allow for the treatment of ocular disease, including glaucoma.
  • Clinical faculty that has the expertise, desire, and adequate time to teach externs about ocular disease.
  • Didactic program that include seminars, grand rounds, journal club (reading assignments), online case studies, or end of day discussions.

Category P (Primary Care):

Externships in Category P contain the following:

  • Large patient numbers and clinical space that allow for a robust exposure to primary eye care with emphasis on examination efficiency.
  • Patient populations of all ages and specifically high prevalence of commonly occurring ocular disorders including ocular surface disease, conjunctivitis, keratitis, uveitis, ocular traumas, and binocular vision abnormalities.
  • Clinical faculty that has the expertise, desire, and adequate time to teach externs.
  • Didactic program that include seminars, grand rounds, journal club (reading assignments), online case studies, or end of day discussions.

Category E (Elective):

Externships in Category E contain the following:

  • Patient populations, faculty expertise, or facilities that contain unique learning opportunities or that supplement and enhance experiences gained at Category M and P sites.
  • Unique learning opportunities including functioning in a multi-disciplinary hospital based clinic, in a private practice, performing peri-operative care, working in refractive surgery centers, providing low vision or rehabilitation services, and serving non-English speaking patient populations.
  • Clinical faculty that has the expertise, desire, and adequate time to teach externs.
  • Didactic program that include seminars, grand rounds, journal club (reading assignments), online case studies, or end of day discussions.

Student Externship Selection Process

(process done by lottery):

  • First round pick for first rotation – select an IN/OUT template and a Category P site.
  • Second round pick for second rotation – select a Category M site.
  • Third Round pick for third rotation – select from a Category E site or from any remaining Category M or P sites.
  • Fourth round pick – select In-House clinics template.