In May I will officially be a fourth year optometry student which means that I will begin one entire year of externships - not to overlook my very important National Boards in March. Each of the 17 Colleges of Optometry have different externship requirements, none of which have a longer externship program than we do. We are very lucky to get so much clinical experience and we are told that UMSL graduates get a lot of complaints about their clinical skills. They always saw we have six 8-week rotations, which isn't entirely true-the two summer rotations are shorter, only 7 weeks long I believe.
A little background about our externship process....We are allowed to pick all six. The school has a list of over 300 different places to choose from that have had UMSL externs previously, or you can work to set one up on your own. In reality we only have freedom on 4 of the 6 because we are required to complete two rotations in St. Louis that are school affiliated. Also the rotations have to meet certain specialty requirements to ensure that we all get a variety of exposure. We are required to complete a binocular vision/pediatrics and contact lens rotation, both of which are satisfied by completing a rotation at the school, an ocular disease rotation, a multidisciplinary site (like a VA or hospital) and an elective. They do have some rotations in fun places like Hawaii and Australia, but you have to pay for your travel to get there. I chose to put mine in KC so I could start networking (plus there was a lot of competition for HI).
From what I have heard, at all the locations I have chosen I will be seeing my own patients as if I'm the doctor., but there will be a supervising doctor present for questions as well. There are some rotations where you do not get to see your own patients, but rather observe someone else-I tried to avoid those.
Here is my schedule
1. May 18 – June 27th
Advanced Eyecare (2 locations):
6708 Raytown Road
Raytown, MO 64133
&
1116 SW 40 Highway
Blue Springs, MO 64015
Drs. Rich Wilson, Lawrence Reed, Dana Krause, and Joshua Graf
Private group practice with two locations.
http://www.advanced-eyecare.net/home.htm
2. June 29th – August 15th
Eye Associates (4 locations):
Of Overland Park (69 Hwy & 119th)
10120 West 119th StreetOverland Park, KS 66213
Of Leawood (151st & Nall)
15069 Nall Ave Leawood, KS 66211
Of Olathe (135th & Blackbob)
15249 West 135th StreetOlathe, KS 66062
Of Shawnee (E of 435 @ Shawnee Mission Prkwy)
15951 West 65th StreetShawnee, KS 66217
Private Group Practice; don’t know if I will be a multiple locations or just OP office)
Drs. Vincent Pennipede, Mark Siefkes*, John Davis, Nicci Noyce*, Christina Bartimus, Jayme Fose, Andrea Beedles (*UMSL Grads)
http://www.eyeassociatesop.com/index.cfm
3. & 4. Aug 17th – Dec 18th
Kansas City VA Medical Center
4801 Linwood Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64128
This location is actually a 16-week rotation. It is supposed to be the best rotation available at UMSL. In addition to the 3 UMSL externs, the KCVA also has a residency program through UMSL for 3 recent graduates.
Dr. Tim Harkins (whom I have heard from a number of current 4th years and recent graduates is what makes this rotation so good!)
http://www.kansascity.va.gov/
5. Jan 5th – Feb 27th 2010
UMSL variety site rotation
UMSL College of Optometry has 3 off campus clinics and also provides services at a number of community health centers, nursing homes and other community facilities. This rotation consists of a different location everyday and often times splitting the day between places. Additionally, the college has a converted RV that has two full exam lanes. They take this RV on-site to places such as schools to provide eye exams for kids who have failed their screenings or to other community events. (This week I went on this RV for the first time. We went to a school in south St. Louis and saw about 11 kids in a day’s time; some of which did need glasses, others did not.)
6. March 1 – May 8th 2010
UMSL Clinic
Binocular Vision/Pediatrics & Contact Lens rotation at the clinic on campus
In addition to the above rotations, I have some other places to go as well and will be missing some days at my scheduled rotations. June 22-24th I will be in Washington D.C. for the Congressional Advocacy Conference. If I am able to get the extra days off, I will stay for Optometry’s Meeting is the 25th-28th. I am on an AOA sponsored student committee for the Congressional Conference for which I get a travel grant to attend both of these meetings in D.C.!
From Sept 21- Oct 3 I will be traveling to Nicaragua for a Gift of Sight trip. Gift of Sight is a program sponsored by Luxottica (a company that makes the lenses for glasses) that sends students, employees and volunteers to locations that are in need to provide vision care. http://www.onesight.org/ At this time I don’t know much more about the trip.
Lastly (at this time anyway), the entire 4th year class has to travel back to St. Louis on October 12-16th for a week long practice management course at the school. At the end of the week is when we have our Eyeball, our formal dinner/dance to honor the 4th years….and I’ll be one of those being honored this time‼ PARTY‼ (It will also be nice to be in my home with Brian for a week since I will have been in KC since May!)
So there you have it a rather lengthy look at my last year of school.
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