Ophtho review course for medical students

[jejudo]

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Does anyone have any recommendations for a medical student interested in an ophthalmology review course? I was thinking of either the Will's annual review course (http://www.willseye.org/pdf/education/WE_37annual_brchr.pdf) or the UIC eye review course (http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/IllinoisEyeReview/IER_brochure_2011.pdf).

My situation is a bit different: I finished my second year and am doing one of the year-out research programs. My program gives me an additional grant for educational courses, and such a review course would fall under this category (I already checked). Because I'm doing research, I can arrange a week or so off to go to one of these courses.

I also know about the Stanford review course, but this one is a month long and seems to be only for fourth year students (and residents, CME, etc.)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[InterviewMe]

Honestly, those courses are probably a little too intense for a student learning the concepts for the first time. Imagine taking a Step 1 review course before starting medical school...

If you want to learn some basic ophthalmology and get a sense of the field, see if you can do a 2-week clinical rotation somewhere. Bascom Palmer has an excellent 2-week medical student rotation that combines wonderful introductory lectures with clinical experience. Other programs offer similar options.

Also, I would read this book

 

[tm12]

The ophthalmology department at your medical school may also have a few copies of basic ophthalmology for loan.

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Ophthalmology-American-Academy/dp/1560553618

 

[SayYes]

I attended uic course as a third year, thought that much of it was above my head, but still I learned a lot. Thought it was worth it. You get a 3" binder filled with lecture materials.

 

[jejudo]

Thanks for all of your replies. I've already read the Basic Ophthalmology book, as well as UMich's "The Eyes Have It," parts of Kanski, and watched most of the Will's Eye online Chief's rounds (http://www.willseyeonline.org/search.aspx). I think that my eye savviness is comparable to someone finishing his first ophthalmology clerkship; hence the interest in a "review" course.

I attended uic course as a third year, thought that much of it was above my head, but still I learned a lot. Thought it was worth it. You get a 3" binder filled with lecture materials.

Were you the only medical student there? Was this a good opportunity to network with faculty, residents, etc.? Were there specific topics that seemed just too difficult for a medical student? Besides lack of ophthalmic clinical experience, the optics section seems to be the biggest mystery for me.

I really like the Will's Eye online lectures, and am wondering if their review course is at the same level. Thanks again for all of your input.

 

[SayYes]

Thanks for all of your replies. I've already read the Basic Ophthalmology book, as well as UMich's "The Eyes Have It," parts of Kanski, and watched most of the Will's Eye online Chief's rounds (http://www.willseyeonline.org/search.aspx). I think that my eye savviness is comparable to someone finishing his first ophthalmology clerkship; hence the interest in a "review" course.



Were you the only medical student there? Was this a good opportunity to network with faculty, residents, etc.? Were there specific topics that seemed just too difficult for a medical student? Besides lack of ophthalmic clinical experience, the optics section seems to be the biggest mystery for me.

I really like the Will's Eye online lectures, and am wondering if their review course is at the same level. Thanks again for all of your input.

Well, it was like 200+ people mostly residents. Did not meet any students there. There are some really good optics video lectures online along with refraction tutorials. Getting through those online optics lectures plus UIC course optics was actually pretty helpful. It still requires lots of homework though because they go through the concepts pretty fast since the lectures are resident-level. Lectures are like 14 hours a day so day dreaming was a problem for me. Probably going to go again this year if I can get out of rotation.

Which wills lectures are you talking about?

 

[mudphudstud]

I did the Stanford's Bay Area Ophthalmology Course this past summer. It was a tough 4 weeks with lectures and lab 5 days a week for 8-9 hours per day but it was excellent! The phaco and optics labs were a great experience. There were only six 4th year student out of approximately 60 participants. I would suspect that Wills and UIC courses are geared towards residents and on numerous occasions I caught myself day dreaming. I thinks its worth it but will be tough. I think Columbia also has a week long course sometime in Jan maybe.

 

[MastahRiz]

The Wills review course is no joke. Attend it in person if you can because the online notes will not do it justice and are pretty dry since they are all in bullet format from start to finish. While the lectures are video recorded as well, I don't think they're available online yet.

Attending the course is your best bet. Admission and food are free.