Mission

The mission of the Naval Medical Center San Diego Ophthalmology residency program is to provide comprehensive intensive clinical and surgical education that will fully prepare graduates of our program for independent lifelong practice. We strive to develop Navy Ophthalmologists with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that will promote the very best care no matter where they are stationed worldwide. The mission of Navy Medicine is to support the operational forces and their families in all locations around the world. Our program is tasked with producing graduates who deliver the highest quality healthcare in all environments, all the while furthering ophthalmic education, training and research.

Vision

Our vision is to produce board certified ophthalmologists and Naval officers who understand the critical role of military medical readiness and are well prepared to provide the full spectrum of ophthalmic care throughout the world, including in austere, remote environments.

Aims

Aim 1

To equip graduates with the ability to deliver fully comprehensive, evidence based medical and surgical ophthalmic care at military treatment facilities, sustaining clinical and surgical excellence.

Aim 2

To prepare graduates for fellowship training at high caliber academic institutions so they can return as teaching faculty, expanding training opportunities for future generations of Navy ophthalmologists.

Aim 3

To develop and expand the trainee’s ability to provide care in humanitarian and expeditionary settings, key areas in our specialty that entail the use of specific knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Friday afternoons are set aside for weekly conferences, Grand Rounds, and various lectures. We hold a monthly Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference. Three to four mornings per week there are subspeciality lectures given which correlate with assigned readings from the AAO Basic and Clinical Science Course. Residents also have opportunities participate in joint lectures with UCSD, which occur Monday afternoons. Journal clubs are held every 1-2 months and wet labs providing hands-on surgical training are held quarterly.

There are no elective rotations within the Ophthalmology Residency training curriculum.  

• Primary call is taken from home by PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents.
• PGY-2 residents take call approximately every 4-5th night and one weekend per month.
• PGY-3 residents typically take call every 5th night and one weekend every other month.
• PGY-4 residents are responsible for back-up call.

Refractive Surgery

• Our residents graduate with some of the highest refractory surgery numbers in the country.  These surgeries are highly relevant to military readiness and the maintenance of the fighting forces.
• International Military Refractory Surgery Symposium is hosted in San Diego annually.  Residents can attend and present research or interesting cases.  

Humanitarian Missions

• Senior residents have been given opportunity to participate in surgical missions in various locations including Panama, Guatemala, and aboard the two Navy hospital ships (USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy).

Officer Training

• Senior residents attend the Department Head Course towards the end of their residency training.  This assists in preparing them for their next roles in running a clinic and provides instruction on leadership and administrative tasks.
• An Operational Medicine Symposium is held annually. 

Ophthalmology Residents are required to maintain certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) or Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) throughout their residency training.  

Ocular Trauma Course

A week-long annual course held every spring at USUHS in Bethesda, MD. PGY-3 residents attend in preparation for their senior year trauma rotation at Loma Linda University. Residents receive lectures from all the ophthalmology subspecialties and practice with animal models and simulated tissue models learning globe repair techniques including laceration repair, enucleation, and evisceration.

San Antonio Basic Science Review Course

PGY-4 residents attend this five-day comprehensive course in preparation to pass their written board exam.

Cherry Blossom Pathology Course

Annual three-day course attended by all residents. Held virtually and hosted by the Cherry Blossom Ocular Pathology Organization.

Refractive Surgery Course

PGY 3 & 4 residents attend this three-day course held in the spring which combines didactics and wet labs, resulting in certification on various refractive surgery laser platforms

Cataract Course

This annual course, which all residents attend, has a combination of didactic training with afternoon wet labs using various modalities on cow and pig eyes. Residents practice various techniques such as corneal incision, capsulorhexis, hydro dissection, lens removal, lens placement, phacoemulsification and suturing. Industry representatives bring additional modalities and new equipment for trial and simulation training.

**Residents also enjoy the opportunity to attend surgical training courses around the country offered at various locations and times of year.

Cataract Surgical Simulation

• Eyesi Ocular Surgical Trainer – high fidelity virtual reality simulator for intraocular surgery training. Residents complete a training syllabus prior to starting cataract surgery.
• Cataract Course- hosted labs using various modalities. Residents practice various techniques such as corneal incision, capsulorhexis, hydro dissection, lens removal, lens placement, phacoemulsification, and suturing.

Oculoplastic Surgery Simulation

• Orbital Dissection Course (ODC) – annual course. This one-day course has a combination of didactic training with wet labs on cadaveric tissue. Residents get the opportunity to review anatomy and practice skills such as suturing, flap creation, dissection, enucleation, evisceration, eyelid laceration repair, and fracture management.
• Lateral canthotomy/cantholysis (LCC) Training System – cadaveric models used to simulate retrobulbar hemorrhage requiring LCC
• Ocular Trauma Course

Open Globe Injury

• Ocular Trauma Course- week long annual course where residents practice with models and simulated tissue models learning globe repair techniques including laceration repair, enucleation, and evisceration.

Ophthalmology Skills

• Eyesi Indirect Ocular Trainer – augmented reality simulator providing diagnostic training for retinal exams

Perform LASIK, PRK, and SMILE refractive Surgery

• Laser Suite – residents are able to perform actual refractive surgery on simulation models
• Perform Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery and Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery
• Katena Anterior chamber simulators
• Virtual reality simulator (HelpMeSee) at the Ocular Trauma Course

Leadership is a vital quality for our graduating residents and is thus discussed and emphasized throughout residency. Senior residents each serve as a chief, responsible for leading the department weekly meetings and representing the residents in faculty and GME meetings. Residents attend the Department Head course prior to graduation, preparing them for their next assignment. Optional leadership reading materials are available to our residents via the CNO Professional Reading Program. There are opportunities for residents to hold leadership positions within NMCSD GME (house staff officer, resident membership on all GME subcommittees, etc.). Our program has also been successful in sponsoring and supporting our residents in national leadership positions to include resident representative to the ACGME Residency Review Committee, American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) resident leadership positions.

All residents are required to complete a scholarly activity project. This typically entails a research project where IRB approval is obtained, however we have additional options for more extensive quality improvement projects, book chapters, and review articles if approved by the resident research director. Residents present their research annually at resident research days. They are encouraged to submit their research to national meetings and funding is available to support them in this endeavor.

Quality improvement and patient safety education is given at quarterly meetings in the department. Updates to current QI initiatives are given at these meetings. Each resident takes part in and often leads a QI initiative and presents at the quarterly meeting at least once during their residency. Past examples of such initiatives include generation and deployment of a surgical checklist to prevent wrong site wrong implant errors, development of clinic protocols for disease screening such as keratoconus and diabetic screenings.

• During second year of residency, one or two residents are selected to attend the Mid-Year Forum where important issues in ophthalmology are discussed with Congress in Washington, D.C.
• Residents may attend the AUPO annual meeting to learn about and discuss careers in academic ophthalmology.
• Funding may be available for residents to attend at least one professional conference during residency when presenting a scholarly activity. Residents have given national lectures, research podium presentations, held national leadership board positions, and taught procedural courses at AAO, ASOPRS, ASCRS, NANOS, AUPO and ARVO.
• Numerous professional development opportunities are available at the hospital to include the USUHS Faculty Development Roadshow and military career development/mentorship.
• Residents also have the opportunity to attend local procedural courses during their second year and an OKAP review course in San Antonio during their third year.

• Loma Linda University
• Naval Refractive Surgery Center, Point Loma
• University of California San Diego (UCSD)

Our program offers rotations to third and fourth-year medical students. Rotations are four weeks (one block) long and include exposure to acute care, trauma, subspecialty clinics, and the OR. Students also participate with the residents in academics, labs, and simulation time.  

Please visit our Medical Student Rotation informational page to see a listing of available medical student rotations offered at NMCSD.

If you would like to schedule an interview with the Ophthalmology Residency Program, please email the program at: dha.san-diego.San-Diego-NMC.list.nmcsd-ophthal@health.mil

Program graduates take the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) written examination and oral exam. These exams are offered annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam three months following graduation. Applicants who pass the written board are eligible to sit for the oral board. Board eligibility is described on the ABO website. Graduates remain board eligible for up to seven years following completion of the residency.

Our program provides rotational opportunities for medical students, Physician Assistant students, Independent Duty Corpsmen (IDC) students, and residents from other services and training sites. Our residents are the primary teachers for these rotators.

Residents are offered opportunity to teach courses at local, regional, national, and international conferences including ophthalmic trauma, emergency eye care, ophthalmic procedures, grand rounds case presentations.

• Comprehensive Ophthalmology
• Cornea
• Glaucoma
• Neuro-Ophthalmology
• Oculoplastics
• Ocular Pathology
• Pediatric-Ophthalmology
• Retina

The program has a nested mentorship “family” model with faculty members serving as mentors for senior residents and senior residents serving as mentors for junior residents. The mentorship family meets as a group at least three times per year, more often if needed. Topics of discussion include academic and surgical education progress as well as professional development including personal and career goals. This family nest lasts throughout residency. Resident research advisors also serve as mentors on an individual basis.

Resident well-being is an important part of our program. Acknowledging that residency can be a particularly stressful time, we utilize the services of the performance psychologist who has provided coaching and individual sessions for the residents. Journal clubs are hosted by various staff every 1-2 months and are often associated with social gatherings or other team building activities such as pickle ball or golf tournaments. Department picnics and gatherings are held throughout the year. Once a year we attend Padres games as a group. Annually we celebrate together at the Holiday party and at Resident Graduation. Residents participate in weekly basketball games. The House Staff Council and GME department host a wellness symposium each year at the hospital that our residents participate in as well.