What kind of training do ophthalmologists go through?

The following is a posting from Dr. Scott Richards which was made to the ROP list explaining medical training. The ROP list was moderated by Dr. Scott Richards until August, 2002. The list has closed now. For more information about lists of interest to people with visual impairments, please visit the email list index.

Date: December 16, 1998
From: Scott Richards

"Dr. Richards, would you mind giving us a bit of an overview of what the different stages of training are? For instance, what is the difference between residency, retina fellowship, etc?"

Typically, a medical education includes the following:

1. Undergraduate work - bachelor's or master's degree in almost any area
2. Medical school - 4 years of general medical studies
3. Internship - 1 year of general medical work in a hospital, heavily supervised (hopefully)
4. Residency - 3 to 7 years of specialty training. For ophthalmology, this is either a 3 or 4 year period of training specific for eye care. This is when one learns to do eye surgery, treat eye diseases, do eye exams, etc.
5. Fellowship - Subspecialty training (retina, glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, etc.) lasting usually 1-2 years, although it can be longer. Many fellowships are just an opportunity to work with a "big name" ophthalmologist in a particular field, while others are research oriented, surgically oriented, etc.

I actually did two fellowships - an ophthalmic pathology fellowship prior to my residency (a research-oriented fellowship with a "big name") and a retina fellowship after my residency (surgically oriented). Research was fun, but nowhere near as fun as patient care, so I came back to my "sleepy" little hometown Ogden to practice instead of staying at an academic institution.