What else do you learn in Optometry school? Please answer

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q1we3

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I am worried that as an optometrist I will only know about the eye and not much else.
I hope optometry school is not 100% eye related. I want to be knowledgeable about other aspects of human body as well.

Do students learn about functioning of other parts of the body?
Do students learn about diseases that are not related to the eye?
Do students learn about drugs not related to the eyes?

If a patient asks me about a condition/disease or a drug that has nothing to do with the eye will I know about it. Since, patient medical history is considered before an eye exam I assuming this is all taught?

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I am worried that as an optometrist I will only know about the eye and not much else.
I hope optometry school is not 100% eye related. I want to be knowledgeable about other aspects of human body as well.

Do students learn about functioning of other parts of the body?
Do students learn about diseases that are not related to the eye?
Do students learn about drugs not related to the eyes?

If a patient asks me about a condition/disease or a drug that has nothing to do with the eye will I know about it. Since, patient medical history is considered before an eye exam I assuming this is all taught?

When I was in school, things were obviously concentrated on the eye. As far as "other" things there was an emphasis on the neck up and other involved coursework on the belly button up. Pretty much everything bellow the bellybutton was ignored other than if there was a specific reason or disease. For example, something like Reiter syndrome.
 
In general, a good portion of your first year of optometry school is spent learning basic science. For me it was courses such as Anatomy, Physiology, Neuroanatomy, Systemic Pathology, Medical Pathology, with "eye" related course mixed in as well (Ocular Pharmacology, Optometric Theory and Methods, etc). Of course we're here to learn about the eyes, but there seems to be a pretty strong emphasis to make you well rounded, knowledgeable of systemic diseases and how they affect the eye, and aware of various diseases that your patients may present with.

In addition, we took 2 semesters of Systemic Pharmacology before starting Ocular Pharm. In the first two courses we covered just about every type of drug class there (treatments for Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart Failure, Parkinsons, Hyperlipidemia, etc.) is so I would definitely say you get exposure to many drugs outside of ocular drugs, especially because many of them have side effects that can affect your eyes.

Anyway, so I would say that you get a good exposure to various diseases, drugs, etc that affect the entire body. Any while you may not become an expert on those diseases, you will have an understanding of them in the case where a patient lists it on their medical history, as you mentioned.
 
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The extent to which it is taught varies from school to school. But you are being trained to be a health professional. Although there is heavy focus on the eyes most curriculum will cover health conditions that you are most likely to encounter in the future. If you're asking if the school will teach you about every random drug and possible interaction, the answer is no. You could easily take extra time and read up on those areas if you feel obligated to. Most faculty would be happy to aid you in your studies, at least its that way at my school.
 
It probably depends on the school you attend but I don't think any optometry school is going to have a heavily focused curriculum covering the systemic system other than the eyes. I didn't get any anatomy other than ocular anatomy and neuroanatomy - so I don't really know about rest of the body other than the anatomy I had as an undergrad. Regarding drugs not related to the eye - I had one semester of basic pharmacology - nothing super in-depth that would allow me to manage a person with congestive heart failure or anything like that. If you're concerned whether or not you'll be competent enough after you graduate then I think you shouldn't worry too much, since a majority of us don't really deal with "medicine". But if you have a desire/passion to learn about the rest of the body and the medicine that's involved, then maybe med school might be the ideal route for you.
 
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It probably depends on the school you attend but I don't think any optometry school is going to have a heavily focused curriculum covering the systemic system other than the eyes. I didn't get any anatomy other than ocular anatomy and neuroanatomy - so I don't really know about rest of the body other than the anatomy I had as an undergrad. Regarding drugs not related to the eye - I had one semester of basic pharmacology - nothing super in-depth that would allow me to manage a person with congestive heart failure or anything like that. If you're concerned whether or not you'll be competent enough after you graduate then I think you shouldn't worry too much, since a majority of us don't really deal with "medicine". But if you have a desire/passion to learn about the rest of the body and the medicine that's involved, then maybe med school might be the ideal route for you.


What school do you attent? Wow.
 
It probably depends on the school you attend but I don't think any optometry school is going to have a heavily focused curriculum covering the systemic system other than the eyes. I didn't get any anatomy other than ocular anatomy and neuroanatomy - so I don't really know about rest of the body other than the anatomy I had as an undergrad. Regarding drugs not related to the eye - I had one semester of basic pharmacology - nothing super in-depth that would allow me to manage a person with congestive heart failure or anything like that. If you're concerned whether or not you'll be competent enough after you graduate then I think you shouldn't worry too much, since a majority of us don't really deal with "medicine". But if you have a desire/passion to learn about the rest of the body and the medicine that's involved, then maybe med school might be the ideal route for you.

I call bs, no way any OD school doesn't have anatomy....troll.
 
At SUNY we have to know everything superior to the diaphragm. We have cadavers to observe and identify structures on but we do not cut anything.
 
Don't be too quick to judge, buddy. I suppose anatomy is a prereq for a reason.
If you did a little research you'd notice there are more than a couple of programs that do not teach anatomy. Anatomy of the eye - yes, but not anatomy. Maybe this link will erase any doubts for you:
http://optometry.berkeley.edu/opt_txtpp/programs/clinical_prog/clin_curriculum_od.html

Biochem is a prereq also but you still take it in 1st year OD school.

General anatomy is covered on Part 1 boards so I can not believe that Berkeley students are taught different than the other OD schools. As someone 'Schnurek' stated, most programs teach from the diaphram up.
 
I graduated from NOVA (a school that ranks below average :)) in 2007 and feel I was given a great education in gross anatomy. To be honest, I was really shocked to hear that some of our colleagues have only had "head and neck" or "above the diaphragm".

Gross anatomy is something that is on national boards and we were given whole body cadavers with which to work at optometry school.

What I mean by "great education" is that I know enough that I could read or discuss any medical literature and have some sense of what it refers to.

You also have to understand systemic pathology to understand eye pathology because much of the eye pathology we monitor and treat originates somewhere else in the body.

Like gross anatomy, systemic pathology is also tested on national boards and is a subject taught at NOVA.
 
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