WesternU College of Optometry holds Grand Rounds Poster Presentations

Third-year students in Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Optometry presented Grand Rounds posters April 23, 2024. The posters highlighted students’ analysis of complex cases from cases seen at the vision clinics of WesternU. This comes at a critical time in optometry students’ development.

“In the fourth year of our program our students experience full time clinical care, so this experience sets the foundation for the critical thinking and clinical thinking skills that will be developed over the next phase of their learning journey,” said College of Optometry Founding Dean Elizabeth Hoppe, OD, MPH, DrPH. “The Grand Rounds experience also helps to hone our students’ communication skills which are essential for patient care.”

The presentations emphasize real-life applications of evidence-based decision making and caring and humanistic health care.

“It was amazing to see their growth as health care providers and the pride that they take in striving for excellence,” Hoppe said. “At the same time, it is an important reminder of why we are here, which is to provide access to care in our community.”

College of Optometry student Segun Oke presented a poster on “Ocular Manifestation of Scleroderma versus Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).” The case involved a patient who was taking more than the recommended dosage of hydroxychloroquine, which could lead to bull’s eye maculopathy. Fortunately, this patient did not have any maculopathy due to hydroxychloroquine.

“I learned a lot when it comes to medication and the effects on the eye especially,” Oke said. “That’s why it’s imperative to do all the tests. A patient could lose vision from eye drops.”

This poster project is great because learning these topics in class and actually seeing it in person in clinic are completely different, Oke said.

“Seeing this in clinic reinforces the things we learned in class and really helps us solidify that knowledge,” he said.

This event emphasizes the hard work put in by students, and shows how far they have come, Oke said.

“We saw patients with the guidance of our preceptors. Seeing what everyone in our class is doing, it feels like we’re actually doing something,” he said. “We’re not just students, we’re researchers, and at the stage where we’re becoming doctors. We will see people on our own. It gives us a bit of confidence that we can actually diagnose or see patients and be able to figure out what’s going on with them. It’s good experience.”