OD Residency

About the OD Residency Program:

The goal of this residency is to help a new optometrist gain vast knowledge and experience in ocular disease with a special focus on anterior segment disease and perioperative care as well as urgent eye care. The resident will become a well-rounded optometrist with terrific marketability, especially in OD/MD and private practice settings. 

Our program is 53-54 weeks, with a one-two week overlap with an outgoing resident at the start of the year. We will have two optometry residents this year that will have separate schedules, but are able to work synergistically together. Expected weekly hours of attendance will be about 42 on average. 

A day in the Life of an OD Resident:

40-45% of clinic time is spent in mentored clinics working alongside our distinguished cornea and glaucoma surgeons, our optometry team (dry eye and specialty contact lenses), and occasionally with our oculoplastics specialists. Residents will work with patients on their own within these clinics alongside a mentor (not a “shadowing” clinic).

• At the beginning of the year, residents will also shadow in the operating room 1-2 half days with each surgeon.
  
• 40-45% of clinic time is spent in an autonomous clinic. Residents are the doctors seeing their own patients. They do not have to report directly to an attending after each patient, however, another provider will be working in the same clinic should questions or issues arise. These clinic visits will include urgent, postoperative, glaucoma, cornea, broad-spectrum ocular disease, and comprehensive care.
  
• There is an optional opportunity for some specialty contact lens fitting within the resident’s clinic.
  
• 15% of the weekly experience is devoted to “research time”. This is spent on a research project(s) assigned by our research chair, Dr. Sherman Reeves. This time can also be spent on preparing presentations, papers, and completing charting.
  
• On-call: 30% of primary on-call coverage for the year (every third week). This means the resident is the primary contact person during non-business hours (weekday evenings and weekends) while they are on-call. Call shifts span from either Monday-Thursday or Friday-Sunday. There is always a “back-up” call contact which is either our cornea or glaucoma ophthalmology fellow. On weeks the resident is scheduled for on-call, he/she will also be scheduled to see 1 Day Post Op exams on Saturday mornings. Our team will try to be as flexible as possible with the call schedule.
  
• Residents will spend time at 4 different clinic locations: Blaine, Minnetonka, Bloomington, and Woodbury.