Interview
Judy has been with the Auckland Regional DHBs since 2001 with a gap period. She is currently a Registrar in Ophthalmology at the Greenlane Clinical Centre. Judy talks to us about training in Auckland. Read More……
I decided very early on as a student that Ophthalmology would be
my chosen career pathway for several reasons. It is a great
amalgam between medicine and surgery. The delicate microsurgeries
are challenging and the technology is always evolving. Most
of all, being able to restore sight to people is very
rewarding.
Prior to focussed Ophthalmology training, most people complete
the two-year house officer rotations. It is worthwhile considering
rotations closely associated with Ophthalmology such as
Neurosurgery, Neurology, Plastic surgery and Paediatrics. Following
this period of general training, most people complete another 2 to
3 years of pre-registrar clinical positions in ophthalmology, with
a combination of clinical and research components. Thus,
typically one completes 4-5 years of postgraduate training before
entering the vocational training scheme in Ophthalmology.
Ophthalmology is a competitive training programme to enter. It
has a nationally-based selection process. Registrars are matched to
a training centre (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin) for
the 4-year rotation recognised by the Royal Australian and New
Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO). To broaden
their clinical experience, registrars from Wellington, Christchurch
and Dunedin rotate to another centre for one of their training
years, while Auckland trainees spend 1 year at Waikato
Hospital. During the 4 years, trainees are expected to
complete 10 exams (optics, anatomy, physiology, microbiology,
epidemiology, clinical ophthalmic pharmacology and emergency
medicine (COPEM), genetics, Ophthalmic Basic Competencies and
Knowledge (OBCK), pathology and advanced clinical exam. Most
trainees then embark on 2 years of clinical fellowship overseas to
allow subspecialization in different fields.
The Auckland training programme has been rated by RANZCO as one
of the leading training centres in Australasia. It is based
at Greenlane Clinical Centre, with a team of 6 Registrars, around
28 Consultants, 2 House Officers and 2 Non training registrars. It
is a very busy but interesting work environment. A typical week is
made up of 2-3 theatre sessions and 4-5 consultant clinics and 1
acute session. The 24 hour on call commitments are between 1 in 4
to 1 in 5. We see around 20-30 acute patients a day on the weekends
and 50-60 patients during a normal week day, plus reviewing
patients at Auckland, Middlemore or North Shore hospitals who are
too ill to travel to Greenlane. In terms of teaching, we have
scheduled 4 hour teaching every Friday afternoon plus didactic
teaching 2-3 times per week in the mornings. Overall, trainees
receive excellent supervision by consultants and gain a huge
exposure to a range of subspecialties as well as case loads.
For further information regarding Ophthalmology training scheme,
look up the official RANZCO website http://www.ranzco.edu/training.