Jasonk, I see you posting a lot on here. Do you think residency is worth the time/pay cut for the potential payout later?
That's a really hard question to answer. For me, it was worth it, but I can't say that everyone would agree with me on that. A lot of ODs think residencies are a waste of time (usually ones that didn't do a residency) and there are some very good arguments to support that claim.
I came out of my residency a completely different doctor than I went in. I was more confident, I was more comfortable with complicated patients, and I was a lot faster. But practically speaking, was I "better" clinically than the guy who's been in private practice for 5 or 10 years seeing a wide range of primary care and ocular disease? Hardly. That guy could have "wiped the floor" with me. Some OD resident hopefuls think that if they complete a residency in something, that they come out the other side with a level of knowledge that separates them completely from other ODs who have not completed a residency in that area....not true. When you finish your residency, you're still going to be very "green," just much less so than a newbie.
Optometric residencies, with a couple of exceptions, don't enable you to do anything that a non-residency grad can't do herself. Even those that do (eg laser use in OK), don't allow you to do anything that another OD couldn't still do by taking a brief certification course.
The point is, OD residencies are about skill enhancement and exposure to a lot of repetition in a concentrated area. They are not about "specializing" as are most medical and dental residencies.
Advantages:
Increased confidence, increased speed, exposure to more complex cases, ability to work in good PP for some programs (can help w/ networking), slight hiring advantage over new grads, better potential for career in academics if that interests you
Disadvantages:
Financial cost, time cost, no significant pay increase, potential for some skill loss if you don't keep up your primary care skills
Just know that doing an OD residency, while worthwhile in terms of experience, will cost you some money in terms of potential income and interest if you have loans. Also know that if you expect to be paid more than a new grad right out of school, you'll be disappointed. Residency-trained docs in fields with true specialization potential are usually paid more/earn more because they can bill for services that reimburse at a much higher rate than their general practice peers. Residency-trained ODs are still general practitioners and they bill for exactly the same procedures and services that non-trained ones do. It's up to the individual to decide whether or not the benefits outweigh the costs. If you find one area of optometry interesting, a residency will help you gain a lot of experience in that area fairly quickly, but it is absolutely not necessary in order to practice in that area.
