Resident Education Program

Residency training in ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center is a three-year program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Each year, two residents are appointed to begin their ophthalmology training following a pre-ophthalmology transitional year.

The Rush Ophthalmology residency program is small, with only two residents training each year, but therein lies its strongest advantage: Rush residents become true comprehensive ophthalmologists on July 1st of their first year, with the ability to follow their own patients throughout the entire residency. Few academic programs offer this continuity-of-care. The small size also allows a very large surgical volume, with residents averaging 125 to 150 cataract procedures, one of the highest volumes in the Midwest. Finally, a true family atmosphere between the residents and dedicated faculty exists, creating an unparalleled training experience. The department seeks applicants who are equally dedicated to the learning challenges, and who have strong personal and ethical principles.

For more information about applying to our residency program, please check the Ophthalmology Matching Program of the Central Application Service at http://www.sfmatch.org.

Philosophy & Mission
The mission of the ophthalmology program is to train residents in excellent medical and surgical care of patients with all types of eye disease. The program emphasizes continuity-of-care, with residents following patients continuously from the beginning of their training.

Faculty Commitment
There are more than 40 active physicians who are dedicated to resident training. One hundred percent of the ophthalmology faculty at Rush are private practice based, which is one of the strongest advantages of the program. The faculty are present for one reason only, and that is resident education! Residents do not compete for the attending's attention – something seen all too often with university employed physicians. Present during every clinic, attending physicians are readily available for teaching on every case.

PGY1 - Internship
Unlike many programs, Rush provides the PGY-1 experience as an intern, negating the need for a separate match. This also facilitates the transition into the PGY-2 year, with greater familiarity of the Medical Center. During the PGY-1 year, rotations include internal medicine; infectious diseases; neurology; dermatology; neurosurgery; plastic surgery; ear, nose, and throat surgery; general surgery; and ophthalmology. The last month of the PGY-1 year serves as an introduction to ophthalmology, allowing a gradual and more structured introduction to the specialized lingo and examination procedures of ophthalmology. Multiple in-depth lectures on basic ophthalmology are given. Residents begin supervised examinations of 1 to 4 patients each day, allowing a guided introduction to the new examination challenges.

PGY2 - 1st Year Ophthalmology
Positions are filled through the Ophthalmology Matching Program sponsored by the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. The first year in ophthalmology is an introduction to outpatient general ophthalmic care, subspecialty ophthalmic care, ophthalmic surgery and ophthalmic pathology. Each resident assists attending physicians in intraocular surgery. Extra-ocular surgery may be scheduled by the first-year resident beginning immediately in July. Starting in December of the first year, residents begin scheduling cataract surgery as the primary surgeon with an attending surgeon as first assistant. The introduction of a substantial volume of intraocular surgery in the first year is a strong advantage of the Rush philosophy. The ophthalmic pathology rotation consists of one-half day per week for one-half of the year plus one additional half-hour per week to gross new material. The remainder of the first-year resident's time is spent in the clinic seeing general and subspecialty patients, as well as in-patient and outpatient consultations. First-year residents are on call one to two days per week. Backup coverage is provided by the third-year resident and an attending at all times. At the end of the first year, residents are confident in proceeding with the higher surgical volume seen in subsequent years.

Residency Progression
The rate of development of surgical technique accelerates according to the resident's personal competence. Extraocular procedures are performed immediately after beginning the ophthalmology service. Intraocular procedures are performed in the latter half of the first year in ophthalmology.

PGY2 & 3 - 2nd and 3rd Year Ophthalmology
Second- and third-year residents have similar rotation schedules. There are four different services, and residents spend three months on a rotation each year. Two ser- vices include a rotation with primary retinal surgeons and two services include a rotation with primary anterior segment surgeons. Included in the anterior segment services is neuro-ophthalmology and oculoplastic surgery. In addition, the resident continues to see patients with general eye problems on a daily basis in a continuity-of-care clinic. Each resident has an assigned surgery day each week, but surgery may also be scheduled at any time with prior arrangement. Each year, one of the third-year residents is selected to act as chief resident for administration, while the other handles educational matters. This system allows residents to develop administrative and educational maturity that will prove beneficial in their future careers.

Resident Research
Opportunities exist for clinical and basic science research throughout the three ophthalmology years; in-depth basic science research is not, however, a prerequisite for completion of the program. Second- and third-year residents, however, are required to perform a structured research project to be presented at the Annual Resident & Alumni Day conference in June. Research projects are optional for first year residents.

Didactic Program and Continuing Medical Education
Rush Department of Ophthalmology is proud to be the leader in Chicago for continuing medical education (CME) programs. Each section director oversees the development of the morning clinical lecture series, assuring complete attention to the basic fund of knowledge required over a three-year cycle. Wednesday afternoons are dedicated to resident education; thus, no clinic is scheduled. Grand rounds are held monthly, and fluorescein and OCT conferences are held quarterly. Journal clubs are scheduled in cornea, neuro-ophthalmology and retina on a bimonthly basis. Completing the didactic schedule, Chairman's rounds are held each Friday morning. Educational conferences are open to Rush residents throughout the year. For example, residents are able to attend the monthly conferences of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, which features renowned outside speakers. From September to May, Rush residents participate in the Chicago Curriculum in Ophthalmology, a unique collaborative effort between all of the Chicago training programs; the lecture series is provided by faculty from each of the Chicago universities and is open to all Chicago ophthalmology residents. Each winter, Rush hosts a Comprehensive Clinical Review over two successive weekends, providing an intensive review of all of ophthalmology in a two-year cycle. The department also sponsors subspecialty national conferences, typically in cornea and external disease, glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmology, refractive surgery, and retina and vitreous disease. We are pleased to announce that Rush will now host a visiting professor series, which will be broadcast and archived on the internet.

Primary Education Interface
Primary care education is an important component of the educational mission of the Department of Ophthalmology at Rush. Rush medical students, as well as students from other medical schools, may choose a two-week rotation in ophthalmology. A rotation in ophthalmology is required for residents in the departments of pediatrics and family medicine. In addition, residents in internal medicine may rotate through ophthalmology with the consent of their program director and the program director in ophthalmology. Rush ophthalmology residents take an active role in assisting in this student experience. We believe that there is no better way to learn than to teach.

Fellowship Interaction
The Rush Department of ophthalmology sponsors two highly successful fellowships: a one-year fellowship in cornea and external diseases, and a two-year fellowship in retina and vitreous diseases. All fellows rotate through the department and greatly enhance the residency education experience. There is NO competition for surgical cases between the residents and fellows, who achieve their extensive surgical volume, outside of Rush, within the private practices of Chicago Cornea Consultants and Illinois Retina Associates. The fellows also actively participate in resident journal clubs, academic conferences and didactic presentations.