Residency Schools in Canada

[Opii]

Does anyone know if there is a Residency year offered in Canada?
Say UW or UM .. What areas of interest would be offered, peds, geriatrics, primary care, therapeutic optometry... etc.
The orms.org doesn't have any information on it so I suppose I'm looking for information from students from these schools.
Thanks.

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[jefguth]

Waterloo for sure has a few residency positions; peds, primary, and cornea/CL I think. I would likely caution against them though because when I interviewed at UW I asked about their residency programs and got a response along the line that "well....we're trying to improve our residencies." Needless to say, they didn't sound all that confident. I think one of the main problems is that UW's clininc has always had trouble getting patients to come in for care at their site. Although, some of the specialty clinics like peds probably does see more traffic since OD's occassionally refer patients to the university clinic. Overall, I just don't see many advantages at least to residencies at UW, few patients, restricted scope of practice, and I suspect you may need to be liscensed in Canada. Too bad UW doesn't publish any info on their residency programs online.

 

[Opii]

Waterloo for sure has a few residency positions; peds, primary, and cornea/CL I think. I would likely caution against them though because when I interviewed at UW I asked about their residency programs and got a response along the line that "well....we're trying to improve our residencies." Needless to say, they didn't sound all that confident. I think one of the main problems is that UW's clininc has always had trouble getting patients to come in for care at their site. Although, some of the specialty clinics like peds probably does see more traffic since OD's occassionally refer patients to the university clinic. Overall, I just don't see many advantages at least to residencies at UW, few patients, restricted scope of practice, and I suspect you may need to be liscensed in Canada. Too bad UW doesn't publish any info on their residency programs online.

Thanks for the information. You're right, I probably would have to take Canada boards.

 

[vtrain]

If you're gonna do a residency, go to the states. period.

 

[Opii]

If you're gonna do a residency, go to the states. period.

Yea, I wanted to have a change of pace but it might be more trouble than what I anticipated.

 

[Canadian26]

Just a general question about residency. What is the advantage of doing it? Like is it more pay? do you get referals of pateints from OD's who dont have residency?

 

[canuck_OD]

Does anyone know if there is a Residency year offered in Canada?
Say UW or UM .. What areas of interest would be offered, peds, geriatrics, primary care, therapeutic optometry... etc.
The orms.org doesn't have any information on it so I suppose I'm looking for information from students from these schools.
Thanks.

Residencies at Waterloo from what I remember are NOT accredited programs. Don't confuse this with the OD program because the OD program is and always has been accredited.

 

[vtrain]

Just a general question about residency. What is the advantage of doing it? Like is it more pay? do you get referals of pateints from OD's who dont have residency?

It's more for self-confidence and interest. It might open more doors for you on the academic front but if you plan on doing commercial, forget about it. Residency does NOT equal more pay. Actually alot who do residencies go into academics, and pay is lower, so you might say that residencies will actually lead to less pay.

 

[vtrain]

Yea, I wanted to have a change of pace but it might be more trouble than what I anticipated.

What sort of trouble?

 

[Opii]

What sort of trouble?

Oh, I wouldn't say trouble. Just for my personal career plans, it wouldn't work out because I would never plan to stay. So the expense of boards and all for one year wouldn't work for me. I was just considering a change of pace, different patients to see, but I totally forgot about Canadian boards. Duh I've had enough with NBEO, thanks.
Just hear Canada is nice. I'll just have to go visit without the residency

 

[Opii]

Just a general question about residency. What is the advantage of doing it? Like is it more pay? do you get referals of pateints from OD's who dont have residency?

I suppose the advantages would be: academically eligable for a teaching position, and/or further educate yourself in a specialty, say Low Vision, Vision Therapy, Specialty Contact Lenses, Hospital based optometry. Maybe a few referals from collegues but nothing to bring up your income by much.
You don't have to do one to learn a specialty, it just facilitates the learning experience. Another option is to find an OD to work for with that specialty, and work for them.
About Pay: I don't think you would improve your chances much for better pay. on the contrary. you would be accepting a year of very low pay (about $27,000) for the year and then make about the same afterwards. Or if you teach that would be less pay. I suppose it would be for personal satisfaction most of all. I have another year to think about it.