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Medical students who match for ophthalmology residencies at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have a unique opportunity to jumpstart their ophthalmology training while completing their internship at Ohio State.
“We’re one of a handful of academic institutions to adopt the integrated ophthalmology internship,” explains Andrew Hendershot, MD, director of the Ophthalmology Residency Program. “This model allows our three-year residents to start learning about ophthalmology at an earlier phase in their education.”
In the past, after medical school, students interested in becoming ophthalmologists would go to another institution and complete an intern year, often called a transitional year, before starting their three-year residency.
“Their ophthalmology training was delayed. We would interview these students for their residency match in the fall of their fourth year of medical school and not see them for a year and a half basically,” Dr. Hendershot says.
Under the new integrated model, interns will:
- Perform their one-year internal medicine internship at Ohio State – not at another hospital
- Rotate through the Ophthalmology Department for three months during their internship
- Focus sooner on knowledge and skills they will need as ophthalmologists, including use of equipment
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s first full class of integrated ophthalmology interns started in July 2018. (A pilot program was completed in 2017.)
For interns, benefits include the opportunity to:
- Familiarize themselves with the hospital and the electronic health record system
- Start research projects early
- Form support networks within the intern class that carry over into their residency years
“Now, when these people start their residencies, they’re ready to focus on ophthalmology,” Dr. Hendershot says. “They can work in clinic, see patients and learn more, sooner. Integrated internships are the wave of the future.”
