It feels so wonderful to watch tv guilt-free!!!
These past two weeks of finals and proficiencies were rough, but managable. I am so excited for Summer!!!!
Thanks for following me through my first year! It only gets more challenging from here and I hope that you will follow me all the way to graduation!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Visual Acuity Project Madness!
Hey guys,
I forgot to include some photos from our visual acuity projects for our psychophysics class. We had to create our own VA charts, caluclate and size it accordingly, determine the patient population we wanted to design it for, determine the type of contrast sensitivity we wanted, the type of optotype (letters, numbers, symbols) we wanted to use, size, testing distances, illumination levels, etc. The list goes on! To summarize, making an acuity chart is not as easy as it looks. My partner and I made a near-vision acuity chart to screen for amblyopia in children under 6 years of age, with 90% contrast, at a testing distance of 75cm.
I forgot to include some photos from our visual acuity projects for our psychophysics class. We had to create our own VA charts, caluclate and size it accordingly, determine the patient population we wanted to design it for, determine the type of contrast sensitivity we wanted, the type of optotype (letters, numbers, symbols) we wanted to use, size, testing distances, illumination levels, etc. The list goes on! To summarize, making an acuity chart is not as easy as it looks. My partner and I made a near-vision acuity chart to screen for amblyopia in children under 6 years of age, with 90% contrast, at a testing distance of 75cm.
A Taste of SCCO Student Life
A apologize for being M.I.A with my blogs. We basically have no more reading week, because now it is basically 2 weeks of finals. We have a clinical methods proficiency on Monday, a neurophysiology lab practical ( I've never had to memorize so many neuronal pathways that i didn't even know existed!), and our first final, clinical medicine. The week after we have ophthalmic optics, neurophysiology lecture, clinical methods, and psychophysics finals. Doesn't sound intimidating for you? Don't worry, they guarantee that it will only get worse from here. First year, is suppose to be the simplest out of the first three years. :( See you after finals!
Here is a great open house video summary of the student life here at SCCO. This video was presented at this year's Spring Admissions Open House. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s33AINgoi
Here is a great open house video summary of the student life here at SCCO. This video was presented at this year's Spring Admissions Open House. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s33AINgoi
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Been awhile
Hi Guys,
It's been a busy month! Sorry I have not blogged in awhile. School is getting progressively difficult and I just want to stay on top of things:)
3 proficiencies: Lensometry (not hard), Schematic eye retinoscopy, and Case History
4 exams so far and still more to come...
I am counting down the days till summer break..our only summer break!
We had an amazing End of the Year Banquet @ Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa. Here are some photos!
It's been a busy month! Sorry I have not blogged in awhile. School is getting progressively difficult and I just want to stay on top of things:)
3 proficiencies: Lensometry (not hard), Schematic eye retinoscopy, and Case History
4 exams so far and still more to come...
I am counting down the days till summer break..our only summer break!
Friday, April 2, 2010
wow...what a week so far
WOW. This week we had 2 exams and a lab practical. I am surprisingly not feeling as stressed as I was during winter quarter. I guess because I have been keeping up with the lecture material. I know for sure the second round of midterms I will not feel as calm because I was unable to re-read each lecture while studying for the first midterms of the quarter and proficiencies. It WILL get harder...and I will stress later. haha.
Clinical Methods Lab
Today in lab we learned about manifest refraction. I did my first refraction in 20 minutes. It was a LONG grueling 20 minutes. Dr.Stark, my lab instructor, mentioned that explaining it would be difficult to understand, but actually applying the concept would be easier to understand. He was right, because I was trying to follow the manual and I got very lost! It was very exciting though! We have to manifest 3 of our classmates by the next lab session.
Clinical Methods Lab
Today in lab we learned about manifest refraction. I did my first refraction in 20 minutes. It was a LONG grueling 20 minutes. Dr.Stark, my lab instructor, mentioned that explaining it would be difficult to understand, but actually applying the concept would be easier to understand. He was right, because I was trying to follow the manual and I got very lost! It was very exciting though! We have to manifest 3 of our classmates by the next lab session.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Extremely busy 2 weeks!
Hello eye bloggers!!!
It is going to be a rough two weeks! We just had our first psychophysics midterm, and our first proficiency. For our proficiency, we had to hand neutralize a pair of sphero-cylinder glasses and a pair of sphero-cylinder bifocal glasses in 25 minutes or less!!! I practiced so much I was seeing double!!! But it paid off because I did well!
It is going to be a rough two weeks! We just had our first psychophysics midterm, and our first proficiency. For our proficiency, we had to hand neutralize a pair of sphero-cylinder glasses and a pair of sphero-cylinder bifocal glasses in 25 minutes or less!!! I practiced so much I was seeing double!!! But it paid off because I did well!
I also wanted to mention that our school, SCCO is having it's annual Spring Admissions Open House on April 17th, 2010 from 8:30AM-12:30PM. If you would like to make your reservation please email Betty at bsanchez@scco.edu. This is a great opportunity to meet SCCO students and faculty and explore the campus!
These next two weeks we have 4 midterms, one lab practical and a clinical case , a visual acuity project, and a case hx proficiency!
We also are learning retinoscopy!!!! It was so exciting to use the phoropter for the first time!!!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Quarter so far....
Currently the c/o 2013 @ SCCO is learning hand neutralization and how to take a patient case history.
Case History
I was an optometric technician for 4 years, and I was almost always comfortable taking a case history. Taking a case history from a doctor's point of view is very different from what I was used to. My responses are phrases carefully, and I have attending and non-attending behaviors that I must be aware of. We have been practicing in clinical methods lab and outside of lab for our proficiency.
Hand Neutralization
During opthalmic optics lab, we have learned how to hand neutralize spherical lenses, sphero-cylindrical lenses, and bifocal lenses. It is not as easy as it looks. We get the joy of carrying our heavy trial lens cases around campus to the lab and home to practice for our proficiency next week! You feel like a real optometry student carrying your trial lens cases around; they are just really heavy. We practice neutralizing with a power cross, like the one in the photo below. This is a photo of a power cross image in my case.
Lastly, here is a photo from the Corona Vision Screening last Saturday. About 25-30% of our first year class participated in this vision screening. Vision screenings give you a lot of exposure and experience working with patients. It is such a different experience compared to when you were a technician. You are the one in the white coat ask the questions, case history, etc. You don't really do a lot of visual acuity testing, at least not at this screening. It was a great experience! I learned how to do a cover test with an occluder and a pupil response test with a penlight on the spot. We have not learned yet in school, but it was good to learn from the third years that Saturday!
I will try to keep y'all updated! We are starting to get back into our weekly midterms so I will try to post on the weekends.
Case History
I was an optometric technician for 4 years, and I was almost always comfortable taking a case history. Taking a case history from a doctor's point of view is very different from what I was used to. My responses are phrases carefully, and I have attending and non-attending behaviors that I must be aware of. We have been practicing in clinical methods lab and outside of lab for our proficiency.
Hand Neutralization
During opthalmic optics lab, we have learned how to hand neutralize spherical lenses, sphero-cylindrical lenses, and bifocal lenses. It is not as easy as it looks. We get the joy of carrying our heavy trial lens cases around campus to the lab and home to practice for our proficiency next week! You feel like a real optometry student carrying your trial lens cases around; they are just really heavy. We practice neutralizing with a power cross, like the one in the photo below. This is a photo of a power cross image in my case.
Lastly, here is a photo from the Corona Vision Screening last Saturday. About 25-30% of our first year class participated in this vision screening. Vision screenings give you a lot of exposure and experience working with patients. It is such a different experience compared to when you were a technician. You are the one in the white coat ask the questions, case history, etc. You don't really do a lot of visual acuity testing, at least not at this screening. It was a great experience! I learned how to do a cover test with an occluder and a pupil response test with a penlight on the spot. We have not learned yet in school, but it was good to learn from the third years that Saturday!
I will try to keep y'all updated! We are starting to get back into our weekly midterms so I will try to post on the weekends.
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