Ophthalmology Rundown

General

There is an Ophthalmology HO handbook available for all starting on the job. It will be your bible for everything to help you start. A physical copy is available on the ward.

There are three house officers and every week you rotate between:

• the ward

• acute eye clinic & pre-admit clinic

Your roster & contact for any on calls consultants & registrars can be found in Medirota, which you should be provided access on your first day.

There is one long day a week but every fourth week there will be two long days. About once a month there will also be one weekend with two long days.

On your first day you should attend an orientation – if you have not been contacted about orientation then turn up to the Greenlane Clinical Centre to Eye Clinic and introduce yourself and you will be directed.

Ward

There is no ward round. You just need to be on the ward at 0800. You will be very busy and the pre-admit house officer is expected to be helping on the ward when there are no patients in the pre-admit clinic.

You are in charge of the only house officer work phone until 1600 when you pass it on to the long day person. You can find who it is in the Medirota. There is an ophthalmology jobs book on the ward for you to hand over any jobs to the long day person or the person next on ward.

Pre-admit clinic

There are two folders in the pre-admission clinic that you will use frequently:

• The first folder includes all the pre-admission information you need to know e.g. when and if to stop anticoagulant, surgeons preference and more.

• The second folder includes some information about some of the various surgeries.

If there is a reliever house officer they will usually be asked to do the pre-admission clinic as this is easiest for those not usually on ophthalmology. The other house officers would then rearrange themselves to cover the acute clinic/wards as appropriate.

Acute eye clinic

This is the best part of ophthalmology. When you first start, you may have the option to sit in with a registrar. This is the only place where you have contact with any of your senior colleagues.

You are expected to be able to examine an eye thoroughly, including being able to use the slit-lamp, by the end of the run. You should discuss all of your patients with the most senior person in clinic.

Long days

From 1600 or whenever you finish your jobs, move to the evening eye clinic to start seeing patients. You should present your patients to the most senior person on acute clinic that evening. Your day finishes when all patients have been seen or at 2200, whichever is the latest.