This site is first come first serve as it works with other schools and is available to ICO students during the fall and spring only. If you are interested in summer or winter, please contact Dr. Patel immediately. 

The VA Medical Center is a 500-bed hospital and outpatient facility with a teaching affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania. It is located in West Philadelphia on the edge of the university medical complex, which is part of the Penn Campus.

The Eye Clinic is located in the main hospital building and is staffed by 3 full time optometrists, 6 part time optometrists, up to 4 optometry students, one optometry resident, three ophthalmology residents, UPENN attending ophthalmologists, a low vision benefits counselor, a mobility instructor, a vision rehabilitation specialist, ophthalmic technicians, an optician and front desk staff. The clinic has seventeen fully equipped exam rooms, two automated field rooms, a laser/short procedure room, a photography/OCT room, and an optical. The clinic provides complete ophthalmic care by an integrated staff that works in concert.

Students are expected to work a forty hour week Monday through Friday. Each student can expect to see 7-10 patients per day.  Students on 3 month rotations will work only in general optometry. In addition to clinical rotations, externs attend daily discussions at the VA starting at 7:30AM Monday through Friday. Morning discussions will focus on a wide-range of ocular and systemic conditions, with a heavy emphasis on understanding and applying evidence to clinical management decisions. The median patient age is approximately 60 and cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are common conditions. Students will also see a large volume of ophthalmic manifestations associated with systemic conditions including hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes and drug abuse.

The Philadelphia VA Optometry service participates in three nationally funded programs: Tele-retinal Imaging, Advanced Outpatient Vision Rehabilitation and Poly-Trauma Rehabilitation. As the schedule allows, students will hopefully spend time in our low vision departmentf. All students will have the opportunity to work as part of the poly-trauma rehabilitation team by performing evaluations and developing treatment programs for patients with traumatic brain injuries.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Encourage independent thinking. We like to help the student cultivate what ancillary tests are needed, differentials to be considered and appropriate management and follow up to help prepare the student for independent practice.
 

Emphasize the importance of clear and accurate chart documentation in order to help students learn to communicate their thought process, so other professions within and outside our discipline can respect their decision making.
 

Emphasize efficiency to see a larger number of patients and a good quality to quantity ratio.