I recently enjoyed participating in a podcast with Dr Rizul Nathani, who hosts the OpenGlobeTk.com interview series which is focused on global ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgical training. The topics that were discussed were many and we touched on important issues like the choice of residency training programs and maximizing your surgical learning. We explored critical life lessons that will certainly help young ophthalmologists and those who are seeking to match into ophthalmology residency.
Here are some of the secrets which I revealed in this podcast:
- the importance of which ophthalmology residency you match with and the resultant effect on your future career (you will be surprised at the answer!)
- how much of your residency and fellowship you will use in the future when you are in your own practice or new job
- is the choice of medical school, including whether you do MD or DO medical school, and it’s importance in your future career as an ophthalmologist.
- the two critical questions that I have asked for ophthalmology residency interviews over the past many years (I’m giving away my best questions!)
- for your ophthalmology residency interview day, what are the key metrics to determine if you will be ranked highly by that program?
- how to perform well on your ophthalmology residency interview especially if it is remote via Zoom online
- the drive and determination to become the best in your field and to make your surgical skills top notch
- what differentiates a mediocre resident from a good resident in any ophthalmology residency training program
- why the pass/fail (or even worse, the pass now/pass later) grading rubric is damaging to your future career
- the ones who will truly grade your work are your future patients, all of whom want perfection and none of whom want merely a ‘passable job’
- how to compress or shorten the learning curve of surgery, so you can advance more
- why spending two years doing a cornea fellowship in 2000 would have been a complete waste of time for me
- how the Godfather of Cataract Videos taught me so much and how you can also learn from his brilliance (thank you Dr Robert Osher!)
- how many ophthalmology residency programs should you apply to? And how is the SF match for ophthalmology encouraging you to apply to more programs than you need to.
- the most naive (and dumbest) thing that I said to myself when I was a senior resident in ophthalmology at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institude!
- finally, the most important secret that has ensured my success in my surgical practice and also what keeps bringing patients to me every day
This was really an INCREDIBLE podcast for the amazing amount of material that was shared. You will NEVER find this material elsewhere. And I am certain that it will improve your surgical career immensely and you will even enjoy it. After learning from this video, you must make me one promise: to thank me in person when we finally connect at a major ophthalmic meeting.
