Curriculum

Residency Curriculum

First Year

The purpose of the initial year of residency training is to develop basic ophthalmologic examination and the use of instrumentation, to train medical ophthalmologists skilled in differential diagnosis and to provide solid surgical skills. The resident spends 6 months of the year in the Comprehensive ophthalmology clinic focusing on a broad range of ophthalmic disorders. The resident is involved in medical and pre-operative evaluation of patients as well as operative management. Residents begin performing portions of cataract surgery and will typically compete one or more cases of topical, clear corneal cataract surgery as primary surgeon by the conclusion of the rotation. In addition, the resident will be introduced to subspecialty ophthalmology spending 3 months in the Neuro-op/Low Vision clinic and 3 months on the consult service. During the first year residents will be introduced to the management of ocular trauma and participate in the operative management.

Second Year

The purpose of the second year is to solidify the resident's diagnostic skills while refining their intraocular surgical techniques. Three months are spent at the new Mather VA facility where the resident will side by side with the VA faculty and manage their own patient and clinic. During this time, the resident will also rotate through the Pediatrics service, participating in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of eye alignment disorders. Residents will also rotate to satellite offices, obtaining additional experience in Pediatric ophthalmology as well as exposure to the practice of ophthalmology in private and HMO settings. 3 months are also spent rotating on the Glaucoma and Cornea/External Disease services where additional subspecialty clinical and surgical experience is provided.

Third Year

The emphasis of the third year is in perfecting advanced surgical techniques and diagnostic skills as well as practice managing ones own clinic. Each resident will spend 3 months at the Martinez VA clinic running his/her own clinic with direct one-on-one faculty supervision. Three additional months will be spent as Chief resident, arranging his/her own clinic schedule and surgical practice. As Chief, the resident may select from a variety of academic and clinical faculty with whom to expand their operative skills. Residents learn to perform such advanced techniques as capsular tension rings, toric IOLs, capsular staining, multifocal IOLs, iris retraction and limbal relaxing incisions. Three months is spent on subspecialty rotations participating in Vitreo-Retinal learning a myriad of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.  Residents also spend 3 months on the Oculoplastics and Refractive Surgery. Here they learn to assessment and manage a variety of oculoplastics disorders as well as participating in orbital surgery. Residents also participate in refractive surgery such as LASIK and PRK, becoming certified in excimer laser and microkeratome use and typically performing 2-4 cases as primary surgeon.

Residents complete the program with extensive surgical experience in all aspects of ophthalmology. Our program currently has fellows in Cornea/External Disease, Glaucoma and Vitreo-Retinal surgery. The program is structured such that the fellow greatly benefits the residents’ education without taking away from the surgical volume. Throughout the three-year program, the residents participate in a wide variety of didactic programs and conferences provided by the department.

Teaching Conferences

UC Davis has an extensive collection of regularly scheduled lecture programs and conferences. These provide a solid foundation in both basic science and clinical ophthalmology.

Surgical and Morbidity Conference

This is a working conference in which operative and post-operative problems are discussed among the full-time faculty and the residents. The purpose of this conference is to provide the resident staff with a teaching experience that will impact on quality assurance in the care of patients.

Optics Conference

The department sponsors a course in Clinical Optics each year to provide the resident staff with a basic working knowledge of theoretical optics and their clinical applications. During these sessions, the residents are also provided with practical problems in clinical optics as well as Subspecialty Lectures. Each Monday evening residents are given a lecture series which spans neuro-ophthalmology, strabismus, refractive surgery, glaucoma, cornea and external disease, retina-vitreous, and oculoplastics. This is on-going throughout the year. This series is designed to provide the resident with the full spectrum of basic clinical ophthalmology twice over a three year period.

Fluorescein Conference

Scheduled once a week, this conference affords the resident the opportunity to learn how to read and interpret fluorescein and indocyane green angiography for a wide variety of clinical retinal problems.

Pathology Conference

Held each Thursday morning, this conference encompasses a series of lectures and a review of representative pathologic specimens prepared by Dr. Alan M. Roth.

Professor Rounds

Professor rounds are held each Friday morning. Case presentations are discussed in detail by residents and staff with emphasis on the latest literature and treatment modalities. Approximately six times a year visiting guest speakers are scheduled on specific subspecialties of ophthalmology.

Annual Research and Clinical Symposium

Each year the department produces an annual symposium with resident and faculty participation. At this function each resident presents a research topic of his or her own choosing. Projects range in emphasis from purely clinical to basic research.

Research Projects

Residents complete research project of their choice during their second and third year for presentation at the department's Annual Research and Clinical Symposium. The projects may be in either basic or clinical research. These experiences are not specifically aimed at promoting a career in ophthalmic research, but rather at providing a solid base for the understanding and evaluation of ophthalmic literature.