This unique program combines a Residency in Family Practice Optometry offered by the Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry with a Master of Business Administration Degree (M.B.A.) offered by the NSU College of Business and Technology. This program is open to U.S. Army optometrists.
Expected weekly hours of duty are 40 hours per week with on call duties. The 40 hours includes being scheduled in Family Practice Residency activities 20 hours a week, with the remainder of the week being devoted to pursuing a Master in Business Administration (class and study time). Call is shared by the four Family Practice Residents and the Cornea and Contact Lenses Resident. The Army Family Practice Optometry Resident is half-time in the residency program for two years, and he or she is assigned half as much call as the other residents each year of his or her program. The Army Family Practice Resident is scheduled for a total of about 5-6 weeks of call during each residency program year. Attendance of continuing education may lengthen the weekly hours of duties.
Residents are provided leave. Residents receive 10 days of vacation. NSU is closed for several holidays (3 days at Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Spring Break (2 days), Fall Break (2 days), and Fourth of July holiday. At the beginning of the year, residents are assigned which holidays they are on call. Residents are asked to volunteer for which holidays they prefer to be on call for first. If volunteering fails to cover all holidays, then names are drawn to determine who receives which holidays. If the resident is not scheduled on call, the resident is not expected at work on these holidays and they are not taken from his or her vacation. Residents also receive professional leave to attend continuing education meetings. The amount of professional leave each resident receives is at the discretion of the Residency Supervisor. The Supervisor encourages attendance at Continuing Education courses.
Specific requirements are in place for program completion and awarding of the Certificate of Residency. The requirements are as follows:
- Completed publishable quality paper (research paper, literature review, or case report), all Patient Encounter Logs with encounter types, and all Residency Activity Logs.
- Completed exit evaluations (Evaluation of Clinical Supervisors, Evaluation of Residency Program Supervisor, Evaluation of NSUOCO Residency Director, and Residency Program Evaluation).
- Passage of NBEO Part I, II and III including passage of the TMOD.
ASCO Information Sheet
E-mail the Optometric Management Education Supervisor, John Pembroke O.D.