Residency in Family Practice Optometry

RESIDENCY IN FAMILY PRACTICE OPTOMETRY
(Three positions available)

This program provides the resident with an opportunity to gain clinical experience and expertise in one or more areas of specialization within primary care optometry. One of the unique aspects of this family practice residency is that it allows some flexibility in customizing a program to meet the resident’s individual needs and interests. Residents typically select one primary area of interest to pursue and one or two secondary areas of interest. Areas of specialization include:

OCULAR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT
CONTACT LENSES
VISION THERAPY/PEDIATRICS
VISION REHABILITATION/GERIATRICS
PRIMARY VISION CARE

The majority of this program is spent at the W. W. Hastings Indian Health Service Hospital Pheiffer Optometry clinic and Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The residents carry a pager to receive emergency calls and need to be within 15 minutes of the hospital during evenings, nights, and weekends while on call. Patients are also seen in surrounding communities through the Rural Eye Program and at the Choctaw Nation Health Care Center. In addition to providing direct patient care, the residents may participate in grand rounds, ophthalmological observation, and hospital rotations. A regularly scheduled residency seminar promotes literature review and study. Teaching is another important aspect of this program, with opportunities to become involved in didactic and clinical education of optometry students, optometrists, and other health care providers. Each resident is also required to submit a research paper, literature review, or case report, and paper presentation or publication is encouraged.

Expected weekly hours of duty are 40 hours per week with on call duties. Call is shared by the four Family Practice Residents and the Cornea and Contact Lenses Resident. The Army Family Practice Optometry Resident is half time in the residency program for two years, and he or she is assigned half as much call as the other residents each year of his or her program. Each Family Practice Resident is on call about one week out of the month, and is scheduled for a total of about 10-11 weeks of call during the residency year. Attendance of continuing education may lengthen the weekly hours of duties.

Please see the NSU Staff Handbook available at the following link http://www.nsuok.edu/humanresources/ for specific information regarding health insurance provided.

Residents are provided leave benefits. Residents receive 10 days of vacation. They accrue personal leave (which includes sick leave, personal business leave, bereavement leave, military leave, and jury duty leave) at the rate of 12.0 hours per month. NSU is closed for several holidays (3 days at Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Spring Break (2 days), Fall Break (2 days), and Fourth of July holiday. At the beginning of the year, residents are assigned which holidays they will be on call. Residents are asked to volunteer for which holidays they prefer to be on call for first. If volunteering fails to cover all holidays, then names are drawn to determine who receives which holidays. If the resident is not scheduled to be on call, the resident is not expected to be at work on these holidays and they are not taken from his or her vacation. Residents also receive professional leave to attend continuing education meetings. The amount of professional leave each resident receives is at the discretion of the Residency Supervisor. The Supervisor encourages attendance at CE courses. Please see the NSU Staff Manual by accessing the following link http://www.nsuok.edu/humanresources/ for a more in-depth discussion of personal leave and holidays.

Specific requirements are in place for program completion and awarding of the Certificate of Residency. The requirements are as follows: completed publishable quality paper (research paper, literature review, or case report), all Patient Encounter Logs with encounter types, all Residency Activity Logs, completed exit evaluations (Evaluation of Clinical Supervisors, Evaluation of Residency Program Supervisor, Evaluation of NSUCO Residency Director, and Residency Program Evaluation), and passage of NBEO Part I, II and III including passage of the TMOD.

To access the ASCO information sheet, click here (opens in a new window)
e-mail the Family Practice Supervisor, Alissa Proctor O.D.

OPTOMETRIC MANAGEMENT EDUCATION PROGRAM

This unique program combines a Residency in Family Practice Optometry offered by Northeastern State University College of Optometry with a Masters of Business Administration Degree (M.B.A.) offered by NSU College of Business and Industry. This program is open to U.S. Army optometrists.

Expected weekly hours of duty are 40 hours per week with on call duties. The forty hours includes being scheduled in Family Practice Residency activities 20 hours a week, with the remainder of the week being devoted to pursuing a Masters in Business Administration (class and study time). Call is shared by the four Family Practice Residents and the Cornea and Contact Lenses Resident. The Army Family Practice Optometry Resident is half time in the residency program for two years, and he or she is assigned half as much call as the other residents each year of his or her program. The Army Family Practice Resident is scheduled for a total of about 5-6 weeks of call during each residency program year. Attendance of continuing education may lengthen the weekly hours of duties.

Residents are provided leave. Residents receive 10 days of vacation. NSU is closed for several holidays (3 days at Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Spring Break (2 days), Fall Break (2 days), and Fourth of July holiday. At the beginning of the year, residents are assigned which holidays they will be on call. Residents are asked to volunteer for which holidays they prefer to be on call for first. If volunteering fails to cover all holidays, then names are drawn to determine who receives which holidays. If the resident is not scheduled to be on call, the resident is not expected to be at work on these holidays and they are not taken from his or her vacation. Residents also receive professional leave to attend continuing education meetings. The amount of professional leave each resident receives is at the discretion of the Residency Supervisor. The Supervisor encourages attendance at CE courses.

To access the ASCO information sheet, click here (opens in a new window)
email the Optometric Management Education Supervisor, Lynn Cyert Ph.D. O.D.