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Presentation By: Dr. Fariah Islam
Notes By: Cecilia Tsai |
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Where did you attend optometry school and what was your experience like? Do you have any school advice/study tips?
If you have any further questions for Dr. Faria Islam, her email is: [email protected]
- UCB
- Don’t stress too much about school → no one asks about grades that much
- 3rd year → be diligent about practicing and seeing patients
- Focus was really on patient care
- Most of the time spent studying optometry was practicing in clinic
- Decided in 3rd year to NOT DO A RESIDENCY
- Berkeley notorious for pushing into academics → she received backlash
- She picked rotations that were purposefully challenging because she didn’t want to do a residency
- Two in-house community clinics and at Berkeley
- Community clinic - Oakland → new clinic and diverse patient base
- Lots of ocular disease
- Nice for her to see how to start a practice from scratch
- Community clinic - Oakland → new clinic and diverse patient base
- Then VA and private practice
- VA - Portland and San Jose
- Wanted strong medical experience before going into the real world
- Favorite was private practice rotation
- Medical Optometry practice → owned by a female OD and all other doctors were female
- Each doctor had their own specialty (dry eye, myopia control, ocular disease)
- Medical Optometry practice → owned by a female OD and all other doctors were female
- VA - Portland and San Jose
- Two in-house community clinics and at Berkeley
- She gave herself a break and she’d highly recommend it
- She would suggest taking a break if you’re able to
- Only time you can travel without any stress or concerns
- Can work under an OD temporarily while waiting for your license
- Started working September after graduation
- Went to school in Northern California but she’s from Southern California so she wanted to come back
- Notoriously hard to find jobs in Orange County
- Very saturated
- 2 schools in SoCal
- Stress
- When applying, branch out and be open minded
- The first 2 jobs she had were outside OC
- She got a job in OC on her 3rd try
- Pay and benefits are better outside of OC if you’re willing to drive
- Notoriously hard to find jobs in Orange County
- As you apply, people will ghost you and not respond → don’t let it get to you
- They get tons of applications so keep trying
- Don’t forget how valuable you are and how valuable your education is
- Don’t compromise in terms of benefits and pay.
- 1st year outside of school - ophthalmology practice in East LA
- Her only job at the time (worked M-F)
- Didn’t have to work Saturdays
- Didn’t have to piece two part-time jobs together
- She was saving money to get married
- Perks of the job (what she treasured)
- 3 ophthalmologists, herself + another optometrist
- The other optometrist had lots of experience → was her mentor for that year
- Really great at managing ocular disease
- First day = 27 patients
- Stressful day
- Questioned herself
- Should she have done a residency??
- Is she not ready?
- Over time, push yourself → you’ll get used to that schedule
- She also got to comanage a lot of surgery
- ptosis, pterygia, cataract, etc.
- Also got to use a lot of her Spanish
- Saw the nicest patients because of the insurance they had
- Don’t have to take any work home
- The other optometrist had lots of experience → was her mentor for that year
- 3 ophthalmologists, herself + another optometrist
- Cons:
- She knew she’d only live there for a year. She thought she’d be nice and give them a heads up, but because she brought it up early, her pay was lowered, paid time off was cut in half, and benefits were taken away.
- She wished she took the contract home, looked it over with someone more experienced and negotiated with the office manager, but she was too nervous and signed it the way it was.
- Tip: don’t lie but don’t overshare if you’re not sure about your future plans
- Sometimes it can screw you over if you’re too honest
- Staff was underpaid and under-appreciated
- They would no-show or call in sick
- Adds on stress after work because you think about who you saw at work and if you forgot to do anything
- High no-show rates → tend to overbook
- Common in Medi-Cal patients
- Had a lot of Medi-Cal patients at this office
- Also common in high income patients
- Common in Medi-Cal patients
- Outdated equipment
- Worst part of contract = took out health insurance benefits
- $300-400 month (for just Kaiser) so keep that in mind
- She knew she’d only live there for a year. She thought she’d be nice and give them a heads up, but because she brought it up early, her pay was lowered, paid time off was cut in half, and benefits were taken away.
- Her only job at the time (worked M-F)
- 2nd job: retail jobs in Rancho Cucamonga
- She split her time at 2 retail jobs
- At mall w/ slit lamp, Optos, AR
- Lenscrafters with full medical model of OCT
- Saw 15-20 patients compared to 30 at the ophthalmology practice
- No more language barrier
- More people were healthy → less follow up and referral
- Better pay, but she had to go out of OC (Inland Empire)
- Started to get health benefits
- Bonuses→ they add up
- Examples: Lasik referral, specialty contacts, Optos pictures
- Equipment at Lenscrafters was high tech in one office
- Examples: Scleral fittings or glaucoma work ups → a lot of potential
- Under Luxottica so they appreciated the staff better compared to the office in LA
- Downsides
- Lots of pressure to sell glasses or recommend things that they need
- A lot of walk-in and same day appointments in the mall
- People will shove patients in your schedule without you even realizing it → overbooked and had to work through lunch again and again
- Hours are later (10-7 PM) vs ophthalmology (8-4:30 PM)
- Had to take work home + patients didn’t have time to ask the doctor questions
- Ophthalmology = 15 mins appointment vs. retail = 20 min appointments
- Pacific Eye Care
- Worked 2 days a week in addition to her retail job
- 45 minutes per patient
- Went from seeing 15-25 to 10-12 patients a day
- Private practice setting → can educate and teach patients more
- Can provide better recommendations and answer more questions
- More of her style
- Allowed her to make better connections with people
- Commute, hours, staff were all better
- First questions to consider:
- How do the staff like working there?
- Is there a high turnover?
- Has any staff been there for more than 10 years? If so, it’s a good sign the staff like working there.
- Pay and paid time off were what she wanted
- Myopia control, specialty contacts, dry eyes
- Patients have so much trust and will come back for anything even if it’s beyond her scope
- Downside
- Takes a lot of work home
- Follow up on phone, calling patients to catch up, answering emails from patients
- BUT if you’re willing to make those connections, then they’ll refer their friends
- Follow up on phone, calling patients to catch up, answering emails from patients
- Takes a lot of work home
- She had to live it to know it - some things to consider from her experiences:
- Ophthalmology:
- Frequent overbooking
- Concern for techs not showing up
- Retail:
- Frequent overbooking
- Heavy pressure to sell
- She missed the connection that she could’ve made with patients
- If you value extra time with patients, the way to do it is private practice.
- Ophthalmology:
- She split her time at 2 retail jobs
- Ophthalmology practice:
- She feels like she had a mini-residency with mini-preceptor because her coworker was so awesome
- Provided her with a strong medical year right after school
- She feels like she had a mini-residency with mini-preceptor because her coworker was so awesome
- She doesn’t regret not doing a residency because she was burnt out and looking forward to being a clinician
- What residency she thinks would be a good idea:
- Binocular vision, pediatrics, and specialty contacts are the three she thinks can push you into a higher level of optometry
- Most compensated if you leave Orange County
- If you work in retail or ophthalmology, you will get more money
- You’ll earn especially more in private practice
- You’ll gain the most experience through medical model optometry
- A little bit of everything vs. purely ocular disease or purely retail
- Hard to find these practices, but if you can find it, you’ll learn a lot since you can do a little bit of everything
- The practice was so busy that she did a lot of medical optometry
- No friction in terms of what the optometrist could provide
- Worked with 1 pediatric and 2 general ophthalmologists
- They were available to ask questions, but they also gave the optometrists full authority
- Did not question optometrists’ abilities
- No pride or prestige in terms of OD vs MD
- She’s very relaxed, doesn’t wear white coat to work
- She lets patients call her by her first name so the patient can connect
- She’s very casual → almost be their friend outside the exam room
- BUT in the exam room → she’s very forward about educating
- Her knowledge comes off clearly (she’s sometimes too detailed) but that’s how she gets the doctor side out
- She asks a lot
- What they do for fun, hobbies, friends around the area, etc.
- BUT in the exam room → she’s very forward about educating
- Focus on educating your patients to show that you’re a doctor
- Optical makes private practice profitable
- These patients buy everything because this practice has been around for so long
- Ask questions about your patients and that way you can better sell your things!
- Example: How many computer monitors do they have?
- At first, she would’ve said no because her first two years were so rough and she was burnt out
- But after this private practice experience, she wouldn’t oppose
- Owning a practice would be more for quality of life
- More say about hours, how many patients she would see, etc.
- As an associate → she’s limited
- But if she wants to improve her quality of life, she’d look into opening a practice of her own
- The part of Huntington Beach she’s in is still a little diverse
- Majority of patients are pretty affluent
- A lot of them are healthy too
- She’s seen patients with pituitary tumors
- She does visual field testing
- Her favorite patients are the low income ones though because they’re so nice
- At the ophthalmology practice
- She saw patients with diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, etc.
- At current office
- Some patients have been coming back for 40 years
- Working in the summer
- Being a tech and giving you a leg up because they’ll remember you
- Pick rotations in areas where you like to work because you can network
- She told her employer that she was miserable in retail and that she was really happy in the other office
- Also the current doctors there were only working 1 day
- Practice clinical skills
- Don’t sell yourself short, fight for what you deserve
- Pick rotations that will CHALLENGE YOU
- Branch out from the city that you love in the beginning
- Think about the staff dynamic, number of patients per day, location of practice, and the equipment that they have!
If you have any further questions for Dr. Faria Islam, her email is: [email protected]