During optometry school, it was easy to stay informed with what’s happening in optometry because you were constantly being taught new things in clinic or the classroom.
But once you’re out of school, you don’t have a professor telling you about that new glaucoma drug that is coming out.
Now, it’s your responsibility to stay current.
So how do you do it?
1) Continuing education (CE) and Journals
This is an obvious one but conferences are a great place to get a ton of CE in a short amount of time. AAO, AOA and Vision Expo have annual meetings with massive amounts of good quality CE credits. If money is tight, your local referral centers are a good place to look for free CE.
Also, there are a plethora of journals to subscribe to (contact lens spectrum, review of optometry etc) that are nice for a quick read if you’ve got some downtime in between patients.
Completing your required continuing education gives you good industry updates but what about day to day?
2) Social Media
If I’m not seeing a patient, I’m probably looking at something on my phone/computer/insert any internet-enabled device here. So where can you find instant updates at your fingertips? Here are a few places with reliable topical content online.
Blogs: EyecingOnTheCake, EyedolatryBlog and OcularPrime are three OD’s that write informative eye care blogs. Also, eyeguru is written by ophthalmology residents and has useful blog posts on techniques like how to interpret OCTs, ultrasounds and fluorescein angiography in case you need a refresher.
Facebook: There are Facebook groups for every different specialty: scleral lens fitters, pediatrics, ocular surface disease, retina and of course, ODs on Facebook. These groups are helpful for hearing about new things and for getting immediate feedback to questions you post. Also, AOA, AAO and the American Board of Optometry post about current research and relevant eye care topics.
Instagram: Hamilton Eye Institute and Intocloud have great educational photos.
Podcasts: Powerhour and Defocusmedia have good interviews to listen to on your way to work.
Twitter: Vision Monday, JAMA Ophthalmology, BMJ Ophthalmology, Medscape Eye, Optometry Web, and Advanced Ocular Care post frequent updates about all things eye related.
3) Condensed Email Newsletter
Honestly, if all of this keeping up seems too overwhelming, it is!
That’s why I created 20/20 Glance. It’s like having a free personal assistant that reads all the news and quickly summarizes the clinically relevant information for you. There is even a section on “what your patient might ask you” based on what’s been in the news the past week.
You can sign up and see the latest issues at 2020glance.com.
There you have it! A quick and condensed list of resources to help you stay on top of optometry news.
Happy reading!
