Cincinnati VA Medical Center

Goals

1. To increase the resident’s clinical competence and confidence in the delivery of eye care to veterans through direct patient care activities.
2. To broaden the resident’s ophthalmic knowledge base of ocular disease processes, and to enhance their ability to apply this clinically.
3. To develop the resident’s skills as an optometric educator.
4. To cultivate the resident’s ability to interact with other healthcare providers in a multidisciplinary setting.

Commitment

June 23, 2025-June 30, 2026

Typical weekly hours and after-hours responsibilities: The resident schedule is Monday-Friday 7:45-4:15. There are no “on call” responsibilities.

Program Description

The residents provide eye care services to Veterans in the following clinics:

• General Optometry
• Contact Lens (medically necessary)
• Low Vision (optional based on interest)
• Ophthalmology Glaucoma*
• Ophthalmology Oculoplastics*
• Ophthalmology Retina*

*All ophthalmology rotations involve direct patient care (not observational)

Residents attend a weekly seminar with the residency program director that follows a curriculum designed to support and encourage literature review, discuss advanced concepts in ocular disease management and teach evidence-based medicine best practices. Residents also attend weekly ophthalmology grand rounds with the University of Cincinnati Ophthalmology residents and a weekly lecture series at the VA Eye Center with faculty and optometry students. Residents will attend and participate in a monthly optometric continuing education lecture series with faculty of the Cincinnati Eye Institute and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Residents can observe various subspecialty ophthalmology clinics including surgery (cataract, retinal, glaucoma, oculoplastic, and cornea). They attend hospital-wide lectures and observe healthcare providers from different medical disciplines (e.g. primary care medicine, neurology, radiology).

Additional presentations made at major optometric conferences are encouraged (American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Southeastern Educational Congress of Optometry (SECO), American Optometric Association (AOA)), and Armed Forces Optometric Society (AFOS).

Program Completion Requirements

• Complete clinic duties including patient care, documentation, and co-management with other medical disciplines in a timely and professional manner.
• Complete a minimum of 1200 patient encounters
• Attend and document all scholarly and didactic activities
• Complete a case report or research project to the level of quality required by a peer reviewed journal
• Present a poster at the EastWest Eye Conference in Columbus, OH
• Achieve satisfactory or higher ratings on all resident evaluations
• Complete all assigned evaluations of the program and faculty
• Meet requirements to obtain State Optometric Licensure, prior to residency completion.

Facility

The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio is part of VA Healthcare System of Ohio, Network 10 and consists of the main campus on Vine Street in Cincinnati and seven Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Ft. Thomas, KY; Florence, KY; Bellevue, KY; Clermont County, OH; Hamilton, OH; Georgetown, OH; and Lawrenceburg, IN. The Cincinnati VA provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, including medicine, surgery, neurology, physical medicine, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and mental health. The surgery care section has a robust ophthalmology program with all of the subspecialty services available. The medical center offers a wide variety of special programs including a hospice unit, a skilled care nursing home, geriatric evaluation and management, respite care, an Alzheimer's unit, home base primary care, residential and outpatient post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse programs, as well as homeless, sleep disorder, and women’s health programs. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Cincinnati Medical School and has health-related training agreements with over fifty colleges and universities.

Optometry Clinic

The Cincinnati VAMC provides Optometric and Ophthalmologic care within a state-of-the-art off-site eye clinic. The Optometry clinic consists of 12 staff Optometrists, 11 Ophthalmic technicians, and four Medical Support Assistants. The medical center also has an Ophthalmology clinic with residents from the University of Cincinnati and several attending Ophthalmologists with specialties in retina, cornea, uveitis, oculoplastics, glaucoma and cataract surgery. The Optometry Clinic and Ophthalmology Clinic often share patients and interact frequently. The Eye Center has 30 fully equipped exam lanes. Auxiliary equipment at the Highland Avenue Eye Center includes multiple widefield and ultrawidefield fundus cameras with fluorescein/ICG angiography capabilities, multiple digital anterior segment cameras, lasers (SLT, argon, and YAG), A and B scan ultrasonography unit, multiple Humphrey Visual Field Analyzers, and multiple Cirrus optical coherence tomographers with OCT angiography capability. An eyeglass dispensary with a licensed optician is located at the eye center.

The clinic population is comprised primarily of males in their 6th – 8th decades of life. The prevalence of ocular disease in this population is quite high. While some “normal” eyes are examined, most patients present with one or more chronic ocular conditions including: glaucoma, ocular hypertension, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, or cataracts. A significant number of patients also present with acute conditions including uveitis, keratitis, conjunctivitis, trauma, and diplopia.

Benefits

• STIPEND: Established by the VA Headquarters in Washington D.C., currently $46,329.
• Residents are eligible for health and life insurance through VA.
• Professional Liability Insurance while providing care at VA facilities is provided.
• Vacation Leave is accrued as four hours each two week pay period, for 13 days of vacation leave total.
• Paid Sick Leave is accrued as four hours each two week pay period, for 13 days of sick leave total.

Application Materials and Procedures

Application Deadline: February 5, 2025

Inquiries (for this program only) should be directed to Dr. Matthew Horton, Program Supervisor. The program participates in OR Match. When application materials are on file with the program supervisor, the applicant will be contacted regarding an interview. The resident is selected based on credentials presented and a personal interview. Applicants will be evaluated without regard to gender, race, creed, national origin, or non-disqualifying disabilities. Residents must be graduates of a school or college of optometry accredited by ACOE.

The resident must provide:

• Completed application through ORMatch website
  ORMatch # 23824
• Transcripts from school or college of Optometry, as well as, undergraduate college
• Curriculum Vitae
• Letter of Intent
• NBEO scores
• Three letters of recommendation

Applicants will be notified of on-site interview date and time.

This program is Accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association, www.theacoe.org. To reach the ACOE directly, you may send an email to accredit@theacoe.org.