Optometry and Neuro Clinics

In my last week at Santa Rosa, I got to work with an optometrist and a neurologist. The optometry clinic was really educational. I got to see the complete eye exam and all the fancy eye tools. While optometry can be a bit repetitive and routine with the "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and evaluation of visual acuity, it requires skill to use the slit lamp and evaluate the retina. There's little diagnosis; patients come in with known conditions: evaluation of diabetic retinopathy, change in visual acuity, red eye, and dry eye. The preceptor was fantastic; she helped me see hemorrhage in the eye, plaques, allergic changes, and the optic disc.

Neurology clinic was great. The preceptor was this brilliant respected Kaiser doctor who volunteers a lot of his time at community clinics and overseas. I got to see a good peripheral nerve palsy (brachial plexopathy post anesthesia), an interesting headache case (sounded like migraine with identifiable triggers, but turned out to be irritation of a cervical nerve giving retro-orbital pain), and a seizure case (likely due to side effects of morphine). The teaching was excellent and I realized how cerebral (pun not intended) neurology really is. It's diagnosis heavy, the symptoms are often not straightforward, and it relies on a good physical exam.