Technology in Eyecare/IAUPR thoughts

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

I'd like other Optometrists and optometry students thoughts on this. NECO just posted on FB a video showing their updated clinical training center with all new up to date equipment. I know other schools also have state of the art clinic training areas. Do you believe that having these advancements or at the very least some form of updated clinical equipment is essential to prepare students to be better optometrists by keeping up with industry, and helps Professors teach clinical skills better? How was it at your school?
I graduated from IAUPR a few years back and there is no form of truly up to date technology in our pre-clinical training center, we get literally a 30-45min training on how to run OCTs (of which there is only 1 at the school and 1 at an ancillary clinic) We have old diagnostic equipment that was never once even turned on in the 4 yrs I was there, probably not since I left either. I know the perception most have of the school and its students. There are so many posts from current and past students that are so unbelievably unhappy with their clinical education at IAUPR and I feel it might be because we see and hear that every other school seem to be making a greater investment in their students by having the latest and greatest tech and their students are well versed on how to run and interrupt results from these various dx testing and IAUPR students feel like they are stuck with crap. We feel like we missed out on a critical piece of the puzzle and end up behind when we enter our field in comparison to other new grads. DO you feel it is an essential part of clinical education and training, are IAUPR students justified in the feelings about the clinical education we're receiving? Id like honest thoughts on this. I know the school took a hit with the hurricane at that sucks but things weren't up to date prior so. Alumni think the only way to change for the better is to have an honest discussion about what is lacking and ways to improve.

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[AcademicEyes]

Not sure about how crucial state-of-the-art equipment is, but I do feel it's important to be able to interpret OCTs/HVF results and be able to use a tonopen, pachymeter, handheld slit lamp, etc. Depends on the setting you'll be in, of course, but I think you should always be able to think of alternative ways to get your results because fancy equipment isn't likely to be at hand.

At my school we can run OCTs, take fundus photos, take Humphrey visual fields, etc, but while it's nice to know how to run the test, the fact of the matter is the technology changes so quickly that what you know is very temporary. What's more important is understanding the results. My personal belief is that you can get spoiled using new technology and you'll forget the basics or how to handle your complex cases without it.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

I think you missed the point. I agree that in practice you many not need fancy pieces of equipment but thats not what I was referring to. I was referring to having certain diagnostic instruments for educational purposes. I dont think that it is spoiled at all and prob. 99% of the current student body at IAUPR would agree that its not spoiled. Year after year IAUPR graduates ODs that are less prepared than their stateside counter parts. I know they let in anyone with a pulse, I get it but year after year we are the lowest in every board. No one passes part 1 or 3 on their first try. Their is a significant amount of subjectivity in their diagnostic skills and students are often confused, lied, or ignored when diagnosing anything. Look at NECO's site for a sec, see that all their slitlamps are upgraded to included video of what is seen, helping not only the clinican who is teaching but the student who is learning. same for their BIO's computer system and facilities. I normal dont kick a man when he is down so I hate to comment on a school that was hit by the hurricane BUT there is something to be said about the number of complaints from students who feel that their school does not invest in their success like every other OD school. Its not being spoiled wanting to have a better clinical education. Listen they really only invest in one student a year who does a residency with them, always a native. That person is taught basic things that EVERY student should've been taught during their 4 yrs. Low vision-we suck our prof died and the replacement I hear is terrible. They get 1 day literally ONE DAY of fitting contacts training, of which we are never allowed to actually fit them on patients and learn bc the professor doesn't trust anyone and he only fits 2 days a week in the morning. Low vision parents are seen one afternoon a week. Vision therapy and related exams are done only on one day with peds mixed in. Students are left to fend for themselves. Only the resident sees interesting cases learns to use Gdx OCTs and interpretation. They have old broken down equipment that doesn't work and that has nothing to do with the hurricane.They dont even have nice "BASIC" equipment much less other advancements. If every other school invests in technology to better train their students in clinical training and puts out amazing ODs who dont think twice or question themselves in their skills meanwhile IAUPR calls their students spoiled day after day year after year and consistently has the least prepared OD's because they didn't invest in their students. How can we keep up with students who are better in every way bc their school makes sure their students are up to date on diagnostic testing and imaging, while we end up either learning after graduation if we work under someone or basically referring out what we should be able to handle. I know somethings just come with time but I promise a lot of our students dont even come out with the basics s down pact. The school really only cares about the top ten in the class and even then. I really dont consider it spoiled. thats a term the school uses to describe their students. Maybe you are Dr. Romero or another prof posting? It just baffles me that they want to change the perception of the school and yet treat the students like crap and call them spoiled for WANTING to learn. trust me sitting in clinical training they would leave us to our own devices and sit and gossip the whole time. God forbid you interrupt their gossiping and even then they would go back and MAKE FUN of the student for asking questions! Does that sound like a school invested in their students? When you have students on here saying they want to shut the school down it was so bad, is that investing in their students? Every OD I met from other schools always have the positive things to say about their school and experience. They loved their school they loved their experience. We don't and we say it and still no effort made on their part. If the NBEO scores are consistently low year after year with no improvement please tell me how its ALWAYS the students fault. We bust our asses every day trying our best and when we fall short they respond with "pfft I knew so and so wouldn't pass, and that person wont ever pass so on and so forth" is that what a school should be saying about their students???? and back to technology, when we do try to use their janky tech which we were never even taught to use, they call us stupid!!!! it just boggles my mind for sure

 

[AcademicEyes]

Ohhhh I see what you're saying. I thought you were referring to auxiliary testing, not things like slit lamps/phoropters. I was just saying I don't think it's important to have the latest model of whatever test you're running, but I think you're saying that having adequate equipment for a learning experience is important? And I agree with that.
I go to a public optometry school so our equipment can be old and janky in the pre-clinical setting, and we may not always have the newest stuff, but in our clinic we do have newer slit lamps and other equipment so that our ability to give patient care isn't limited by what we have. I also watched segments of the videos on their site and it seems that NECO has a lot of the equipment I thought was standard for optometry schools. I'm sorry that IAUPR is not up to par on that, and I feel it's a terrible detriment to its students. I agree with you that if scores are consistently low a large portion of that is the school's inability to prepare you or enable you to do well. In addition, based on your description, faculty at the school is not providing an environment conducive to learning.

Do you buy your own equipment there as well?
My diagnostic kit and BIO are probably the most useful pieces of equipment I personally own, but a lot of the equipment at school has been helpful. A few slit lamps have the ability to record video (for the residents), which has been helpful when interesting cases show up that our instructors want to share with us. The video is nice, but more important than that is just an instructor's willingness to point out interesting findings through a teaching tube or something.
I also think it's important to be able to have experience with contact lens fittings and binocular vision problems before going on rotations.

How do you think change at IAUPR can take place?

I have a love/hate relationship with my school, but at the very least I appreciate that it's preparing me for providing patient care after graduation.

 

[eyelina]

Ohhhh I see what you're saying. I thought you were referring to auxiliary testing, not things like slit lamps/phoropters. I was just saying I don't think it's important to have the latest model of whatever test you're running, but I think you're saying that having adequate equipment for a learning experience is important? And I agree with that.
I go to a public optometry school so our equipment can be old and janky in the pre-clinical setting, and we may not always have the newest stuff, but in our clinic we do have newer slit lamps and other equipment so that our ability to give patient care isn't limited by what we have. I also watched segments of the videos on their site and it seems that NECO has a lot of the equipment I thought was standard for optometry schools. I'm sorry that IAUPR is not up to par on that, and I feel it's a terrible detriment to its students. I agree with you that if scores are consistently low a large portion of that is the school's inability to prepare you or enable you to do well. In addition, based on your description, faculty at the school is not providing an environment conducive to learning.

Do you buy your own equipment there as well?
My diagnostic kit and BIO are probably the most useful pieces of equipment I personally own, but a lot of the equipment at school has been helpful. A few slit lamps have the ability to record video (for the residents), which has been helpful when interesting cases show up that our instructors want to share with us. The video is nice, but more important than that is just an instructor's willingness to point out interesting findings through a teaching tube or something.
I also think it's important to be able to have experience with contact lens fittings and binocular vision problems before going on rotations.

How do you think change at IAUPR can take place?

I have a love/hate relationship with my school, but at the very least I appreciate that it's preparing me for providing patient care after graduation.

Which school are you attending?

Back to the thread topic: Wow, I honestly feel bad for IAUPR students after reading all the threads so far.
Where is the accreditation committe?? Is there a way to write to them from like a consolidated alumni/current student body so that they could atleast accelerate their reviewing process for IAUPR??
Its not a joke, people pay so much money for graduate education...
When I visited MCPHS, i thought that even their technology was very advanced & up to date with current optometric practices, atleast they are working on enhancing the curriculum and clinics since their accreditation was just due in march.
What is IAUPR doing???

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Ohhhh I see what you're saying. I thought you were referring to auxiliary testing, not things like slit lamps/phoropters. I was just saying I don't think it's important to have the latest model of whatever test you're running, but I think you're saying that having adequate equipment for a learning experience is important? And I agree with that.
I go to a public optometry school so our equipment can be old and janky in the pre-clinical setting, and we may not always have the newest stuff, but in our clinic we do have newer slit lamps and other equipment so that our ability to give patient care isn't limited by what we have. I also watched segments of the videos on their site and it seems that NECO has a lot of the equipment I thought was standard for optometry schools. I'm sorry that IAUPR is not up to par on that, and I feel it's a terrible detriment to its students. I agree with you that if scores are consistently low a large portion of that is the school's inability to prepare you or enable you to do well. In addition, based on your description, faculty at the school is not providing an environment conducive to learning.

Do you buy your own equipment there as well?
My diagnostic kit and BIO are probably the most useful pieces of equipment I personally own, but a lot of the equipment at school has been helpful. A few slit lamps have the ability to record video (for the residents), which has been helpful when interesting cases show up that our instructors want to share with us. The video is nice, but more important than that is just an instructor's willingness to point out interesting findings through a teaching tube or something.
I also think it's important to be able to have experience with contact lens fittings and binocular vision problems before going on rotations.

How do you think change at IAUPR can take place?

I have a love/hate relationship with my school, but at the very least I appreciate that it's preparing me for providing patient care after graduation.

Yup sorry I guess I wasn't too clear. I agree we dont need to get every updated model of every piece of equipment but we dont even have some equipment and if we do some of it hasn't been touched in years and we've never learned how to use. I would love there to be change but it would take people to put their egos aside and listen to students for once. Yeah ok some students are rude about they way they address these issues but its because they are so desperate to feel like they are on par with everyone else. anyone who says otherwise is not being truthful.. We want to be proud of our school and our education we aren't spoiled or salty or negative we just want better and its frustrating to feel like we are beating dead horse and ignored. We need a major update to that school for sure major major but not just to equipment but mostly to the didactic education and the attitude towards students.
First show the students that you care not just for a few students or the top 10 but all students should be treated like they matter and give weaker students more help when needed instead of making them feel bad
Two invest in them. invest in new technology, update your teaching methods update your textbooks. People will give you what you expect of them if you show you dont expect much and treat them like they aren't worth their energy the students wont make an effort. So often they'll call students lazy but they themselves are no better and just as lazy.
Three CHANGE STARTS FROM THE TOP AND WORKS ITS WAY DOWN if the deans are showing biased to a certain individual or groups of individuals whether it be the natives or the "super stars" they should step down and walk away. there should be absolutely no biases in these situations. Im not saying they have to be everyones best friend however they stateside students year after year openly resent the Puerto Ricans because of blatant favoritism towards those individuals and that shouldn't be the case.
Fourth They need to work on changing their laws and advocating for their laws ON THEIR TIME not students time. cancelling many many days to go Pickett over taxation laws shouldn't be allowed at all. The students education should not take a back seat bc they want to go riot in the streets. The major problem is their culture. For them this stuff is normal acceptable behavior and when stateside students complain they call us spoiled angry whiny and many other names. Stateside students feel like 2nd class citizens and it make them angry. if you added up the last 10 yrs of native students it wouldn't fill an entire class. Therefore appreciate the students that choose to come in and ask for a decent optometric education and to feel valued. If they want to be seen as a valid school and not a 2nd rate School then they need to model themselves like schools who are successful. This change requires a lot of change in the mentality of many in this situation but like I said it starts at the top. This of course will take time and money but its a change that needs to happen for the future of school

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Which school are you attending?

Back to the thread topic: Wow, I honestly feel bad for IAUPR students after reading all the threads so far.
Where is the accreditation committe?? Is there a way to write to them from like a consolidated alumni/current student body so that they could atleast accelerate their reviewing process for IAUPR??
Its not a joke, people pay so much money for graduate education...
When I visited MCPHS, i thought that even their technology was very advanced & up to date with current optometric practices, atleast they are working on enhancing the curriculum and clinics since their accreditation was just due in march.
What is IAUPR doing???

Well ill tell you what students are terrified because how the school treats us. They retaliate and in a big way so we may come on here and voice our opinions but they or at least the dean of student affairs is super vindictive and always willing to throw her weight around and intimidate students. it just sucks. We lose a lot of students year after year and I dont truly believe its completely their fault. Some profs need to make a better effort in the classroom. I dont know I truly dont.

 

[optometrygirl29]

Well for starters the school does not just "invest in the top 10 or the resident" I was at the bottom of my classing almost didn't make it I had to fight my way through. Other than dr paniccia who was terrible in every single way and is gone now, I never had any issues with any clinicians, were some of them a little tougher on me because they wanted the best from me and they wanted to push me to better myself yup they were. I never felt like I wasn't as important as those at the top of the class. I knew I wasn't the best student but I certainly tried and they saw that. I was better in clinic that I was at academics. I was literally the person with the lowest gpa in my class and I barely made it but they did everything they could to support me and make sure I made it so let me debunk that rumor. Also they did get new slit lamps, electronic charting and other updates as well as some new diagnostic equipment. Any time I ran an OCT HVF photos whatever the clinician went over it with me right then and there each and every time to explain what I was looking at what to look for and how to analyze. There has been updates to some instructional material in the classes that needed it albeit after I took them but there were changes. I agree that I wished there was a tad more structure to labs but that may be a personal thing. We used to have lab for 4 hrs 2nd yr 1st semester and for lets say refraction we'd be with the same student all 4 hours sometimes week after week. It really didn't seem to bother anyone but me so I guess thats that. We had an entire lab semester dedicated to contact lenses and practiced fitting each other with different different lenses and each student got personal attention on analyzing the fit what to look for and how to adjust if need be so we got the basics of hard and soft. We also had a seminar on scleral lenses fitting and Synergeyes lenses so theres that. They updated and remodeled the pre clinic area 2 yrs ago repainting and updating the area so as to be more effective for teaching purposes. they also remodeled their special diagnostic testing area a year ago and bought some new pieces that were needed so we had what we needed. They opened a new satellite office which was new and had up to date so lets debunk that. 4th yr you spend time with Dr Conde who only does specialty contact lens fitting, Dr Rodz who has low vision patients, and Dr. Ruiz and Dr roman who perform vision therapy and Binocular vision exams. So you get what you need before you're out into the real world. I will say this is however my own experience. Can I say my school was as fancy as other optometry schools, No I can't. But that doesn't mean that my education was less because of it No it isn't. We get the same education everyone else gets. Just bc the school isn't made of marble and gold doesn't mean our education is worse than other students. I as always respect others in their feelings towards their situation that they had as I cannot judge anything but my own experiences there. For me It def wasn't perfect at all and I did have a love/hate relationship but they were amazing amazing doctors. They have done a fair amount of change and are actually trying to listen to students on how to improve which is a great thing. If you think that they dont care about how students feel, you are dead wrong. They may take issue with they certain students bring to their attention their issues but they always always care.

 

[AcademicEyes]

Which school are you attending?

Back to the thread topic: Wow, I honestly feel bad for IAUPR students after reading all the threads so far.
Where is the accreditation committe?? Is there a way to write to them from like a consolidated alumni/current student body so that they could atleast accelerate their reviewing process for IAUPR??
Its not a joke, people pay so much money for graduate education...
When I visited MCPHS, i thought that even their technology was very advanced & up to date with current optometric practices, atleast they are working on enhancing the curriculum and clinics since their accreditation was just due in march.
What is IAUPR doing???

I go to Berkeley!

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Well for starters the school does not just "invest in the top 10 or the resident" I was at the bottom of my classing almost didn't make it I had to fight my way through. Other than dr paniccia who was terrible in every single way and is gone now, I never had any issues with any clinicians, were some of them a little tougher on me because they wanted the best from me and they wanted to push me to better myself yup they were. I never felt like I wasn't as important as those at the top of the class. I knew I wasn't the best student but I certainly tried and they saw that. I was better in clinic that I was at academics. I was literally the person with the lowest gpa in my class and I barely made it but they did everything they could to support me and make sure I made it so let me debunk that rumor. Also they did get new slit lamps, electronic charting and other updates as well as some new diagnostic equipment. Any time I ran an OCT HVF photos whatever the clinician went over it with me right then and there each and every time to explain what I was looking at what to look for and how to analyze. There has been updates to some instructional material in the classes that needed it albeit after I took them but there were changes. I agree that I wished there was a tad more structure to labs but that may be a personal thing. We used to have lab for 4 hrs 2nd yr 1st semester and for lets say refraction we'd be with the same student all 4 hours sometimes week after week. It really didn't seem to bother anyone but me so I guess thats that. We had an entire lab semester dedicated to contact lenses and practiced fitting each other with different different lenses and each student got personal attention on analyzing the fit what to look for and how to adjust if need be so we got the basics of hard and soft. We also had a seminar on scleral lenses fitting and Synergeyes lenses so theres that. They updated and remodeled the pre clinic area 2 yrs ago repainting and updating the area so as to be more effective for teaching purposes. they also remodeled their special diagnostic testing area a year ago and bought some new pieces that were needed so we had what we needed. They opened a new satellite office which was new and had up to date so lets debunk that. 4th yr you spend time with Dr Conde who only does specialty contact lens fitting, Dr Rodz who has low vision patients, and Dr. Ruiz and Dr roman who perform vision therapy and Binocular vision exams. So you get what you need before you're out into the real world. I will say this is however my own experience. Can I say my school was as fancy as other optometry schools, No I can't. But that doesn't mean that my education was less because of it No it isn't. We get the same education everyone else gets. Just bc the school isn't made of marble and gold doesn't mean our education is worse than other students. I as always respect others in their feelings towards their situation that they had as I cannot judge anything but my own experiences there. For me It def wasn't perfect at all and I did have a love/hate relationship but they were amazing amazing doctors. They have done a fair amount of change and are actually trying to listen to students on how to improve which is a great thing. If you think that they dont care about how students feel, you are dead wrong. They may take issue with they certain students bring to their attention their issues but they always always care.

looks like the school is just going to continue to send people to come on here and lie. all lies. we all know that thats what this is and its been written here that the school has asked students to come on here and lie for them, this is just another school puppet or OC committee member spewing false info to make the school look good.