Pupillary Pathways

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders that is defined by the inability of the body to produce or respond to the hormone insulin. This can be the result of either defective insulin secretion, or target cell receptor resistance.

No matter the cause, this disorder results in imbalanced carbohydrate metabolism and subsequent elevated blood glucose levels. While the bodily processes that lead to the different types of diabetes are distinct, most of the lab tests that are utilized to diagnose diabetes are interchangeable and do not specify which type of the disease is present.

The main tests used to diagnose diabetes mellitus are the fasting plasma glucose test, the oral glucose tolerance test, and the HbA1c test.

Not everyone matches with an optometry residency program. If you do not end up matching with a site, please remember, this DOES NOT mean that you aren’t smart, that you aren’t good enough for a residency program, that your NBEO^® scores or GPA weren’t high enough, or that you bombed your interviews.

There are PLENTY of excellent candidates who just don’t end up matching each year for a variety of reasons. With that being said, that are also MANY wonderful residency programs that don’t end up filling all of their openings either. Therefore, there is still a great opportunity to get set up with a fantastic residency for next year.

It does not end here!

You’ve spent the past few months applying for residency programs, sending in all of your supporting documentation, traveling for interviews, and now comes the HARDEST part of the entire process: submitting your ORMatch Rank Order List!

This part of the process can be extremely stressful as it determines the next pathway that you will take in your optometric career. Where you end up for your residency year is a huge stepping stone that will help you determine where you want to practice, what type of setting you will practice in, and which specialty you will focus on within the profession.

‘Tis the season for all things residency! By this time, you have likely submitted all of your applications to optometry residency programs using the ORMatch Application Service. Now, the next couple of months are going to go by quickly with traveling for interviews, ranking your programs, and waiting for the Match results!

As you enter the final stretch of optometry school, many of you are likely weighing the pros and cons of applying for a residency program. Determining whether to spend an extra year of your life on more training is a huge decision and will probably be one of the most important ones you make in your optometric career. Here are the dates for 2020 you should know!

NBEO® Part II test day will be here before you know it! You've been studying for months now to do your best on the exam, and you’re confident about topics that will be tested, but are you prepared for exactly what happens at the testing center come test day? We’ve put together a few of the most important items you need to know to make your day run smoothly. 

NBEO^® Part II (also known as PAM – Patient Assessment & Management) is typically administered to optometry students in December of their 4th academic year.

For months prior to the examination, you will hear everyone talking about NBEO; what the exam entails, how many questions there are, what types of questions you’ll see, how the test is administered, etc., so we decided to put together a quick cheat-sheet with everything you need to know!