Hospital overview
Olive View: county hospital with well-run Eye Clinic, residents autonomous with excellent attending support, primary patient language is Spanish, crazy pathology
Harbor: county hospital with poorly-run Eye Clinic that is undergoing leadership change, residents autonomous with improving attending support, primary patient language is Spanish, even crazier and more end-stage pathology
Ronald Reagan: private UCLA hospital in which first year resident runs inpatient service and consults
VA: mostly West LA VA, but also some clinic time at Sepulveda VA as a third year resident, residents autonomous with excellent attending support, run-of-the mill stuff (cataracts, ARMD, glaucoma)
JSEI: private clinics, every patient seen by the attending
Rotation schedule
6-8 week blocks
First year: Olive View x 2, Harbor x 2, JSEI Subspecialty (Neuro-ophth/Peds/Plastics), Ronald Reagan Consults, Pathology, VA
Second year: Olive View x 1, Harbor x 2, JSEI Glaucoma, JSEI Urgent Care Walk-in Clinic, VA x 2, JSEI/Harbor Pediatrics
Third year: Olive View x 2, Harbor, JSEI Cornea, JSEI Plastics/Retina, VA (west LA), VA (Sepulveda), JSEI Retina
Call structure (home call)
Olive View: three first- and second-year residents share primary call; third year residents are back-ups; NOT a trauma center, so fewer calls
Harbor: two first-year residents share Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun primary call; two second-year residents share the remaining days; third year residents take weekend back-up call for first-years; ED physicians are good at screening
VA: two second-year residents share primary call; attendings are back-ups; hardly ever get called in
Ronald Reagan: four first-year residents share primary call; three second-year residents take back-up call; ED physicians are not good at screening, and there are a lot of unnecessary overnight consults (the hardest part of first year)
Difficulty
first year >> third year > second year
By the end of first year, most residents are comfortable handling any emergency that does not require laser therapy or surgery.
By the middle of second year, residents are adept at lasers.
By the end of third year, residents are comfortable with cataract surgery and have had exposure to a wide variety of specialty surgeries.
Generally speaking, by the end of every academic year, second- and third-year residents do not get called as back-ups except for open globes, since any emergency is usually surgical, and the first-year resident will call the appropriate fellow directly.
Didactics
all residents: every Wednesday afternoon for one hour before Grand Rounds
first years: additional two hours every Wednesday evening after Grand Rounds, also microsurgery course every Monday evening
Conferences
weekly FA conference
weekly Grand Rounds (residents present 3x/year)
quarterly Plastics conference (for those on rotation at JSEI/VA)
quarterly Neuro-ophth conference (for those on rotation at JSEI/VA)
quarterly Pediatrics conference (for those on rotation at a county hospital or on Peds rotation)
weekly Glaucoma conference (for those on rotation at JSEI)
cataract conference every other month (for second- and third-year residents)
random other Journal Clubs
Clinic hours (averages below, may vary)
Olive View: 8a-6:30p
Harbor: 8a-7:30p
VA: 8a-6p
OR experience
First year residents assist with emergent surgeries at the county hospitals (usually buckles, vitrectomies, Ahmeds, some plastics).
Second year residents are responsible for open globes at Ronald Reagan (assisted by a fellow). They usually also get one case per week at Olive View/Harbor/VA.
Third year residents spend all their time doing surgery and scheduling patients for surgery. They are responsible for open globes at the county hospitals.
Clinic procedures
Second years are responsible for all lasers and get more than enough experience with PRP, FML, PI, SLT, Yag cap. They also do more than enough intravitreal injections.
Driving
Max of 35 minutes commute to any hospital if living in West LA/Culver City/Westwood area. Generally speaking, only ever on primary call for one hospital at a time.
Overall
A great and diverse learning experience with a wide range of pathology.
Residents enjoy the benefits of shadowing and "hand-holding" at JSEI and that of (nearly) complete autonomy at the county hospitals.
