Started internship: what should I do with my direct ophthalmoscope?

[jsh1986]

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I bought a panoptic + coaxial direct welch allyn ophthalmoscope as a 2nd year med student.

The kit includes an otoscope and battery charger handle.

Should I sell all of these? Is there any point to hanging on to any of this equipment when I'll be using a slit lamp and indirect for the rest of my life? thanks for the tips...

 

[JMK2005]

Sell it. It may come in handy for bedside exams. Even then, you'd probably dilate and use an indirect to just borrow one from the clinic.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

You probably should sell it and get some money for it. I still have a couple of them, at least one in each of my offices, neither of which gets much use, but if the need arose, I would have it.

 

[RestoreSight]

The attendings who posted have it a bit easier than the PGY-2s 🙂 I would ask your program if you need the handle for retinoscopy. As a first year resident you will be working up patients from start to finish. If you have to buy any equipment up front this will save you some money. The direct is also good for bedside exams as mentioned above, and it has a much higher mag (but lower field of view) than the indirect. Plus, you may end up using it during intern year. I became the defacto ophtho "expert" among my intern class and every time anything related to the eye came up they asked me if I wanted to see it. Its never a bad thing to have a direct ophthalmoscope handy to see pathology at the bedside.

 

[MstaKing10]

Keep it for internship but then get rid of it for residency. Most clinics will have them around and you will rarely use it.

 

[jsh1986]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll hold onto it for internship (every CHFer gets a dilated exam!!) and then sell in a year.

 

[Dusn]

May be useful for things like international medical missions and glaucoma screenings.

 

[hurdlepup]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll hold onto it for internship (every CHFer gets a dilated exam!!) and then sell in a year.

forgive my ignorance, but why do CHFers get DFEs? what are you looking for?

 

[jsh1986]

Ha, nothing, except an opportunity for me to practice/see a thousand normal eyes when I'm admitting overnight. (Although diagnosis of acute on chronic right heart failure by funduscopic exam has been made! See Skondra/Eliott 2012 in Archives)