Blogpost Week 3

 

    This week, not only have I progressed a ton from where I first started, but I began working up patients completely by myself on Wednesday! It is such a satisfying feeling to be able to scan the patient's retina using the optical coherence tomography(OCT), test visual acuity, take eye pressure, and prep for injections knowing that I am making a difference( even if its a small one) in the work place. Because of this, on Wednesday(the same day that I started doing everything by myself), one of the leading ophthalmic technicians realized that the NW office was understaffed and selected me as one of the technicians to help fill in-- which meant I would have to travel 40 minutes after lunch from Oregon City to Northwest Portland. Although I am sure most of the other techs would've been annoyed to have to move locations in the middle of the day, I felt extremely honored that he thought me capable enough to help out in the other office and make sure that every patient is seen in a timely manner. I cannot wait to continue my work next week! I finally feel like I am being useful... since although shadowing and following other technicians was a valuable experience, I am now prepared to do things on my own.

    The biggest thing I have learned this week is figuring out how to do the OCT scans since the machines differ at different locations. For example, in the Oregon City and East Portland offices where I work, after bringing the patient into the OCT room, the machine will usually make adjustments for you so that the technician can easily locate the retina and scan it. However, at the NW office, it is the technician's job to make all the little adjustments so that the patient is comfortable, and you are able to properly get imaging of the retina. Personally, I find the latter to be more difficult, but I really started to get a hang of it towards the end of this week, and I am confident I will continue to make improvements!

    Among the most common ocular diseases that I see in the clinic, including macular degeneration, another very common diagnosis I have noticed in charts is diabetic retinopathy. Before working at a technician, I would have never even thought about how complications from diabetes can impact other parts of the body. However, diabetic retinopathy is when a complication affects the eyes, and it can have serious consequences to someone's vision. Generally, what is happening is over time in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, blood vessels that feed the retina can be blocked by too much sugar in the blood. The eye will then attempt to grow new vessels, but they usually will leak and are underdeveloped. Thus, it is important to have the retinopathy treated as soon as possible to lessen damage to the retina and prevent blindness. This is just a little of what I have learned about diabetic retinopathy, in order to fulfill the goal of learning more about retinal diseases. As stated above, I have certainly progressed as well on my path to become the best ophthalmic technician I can be! I am super excited for the fourth( and final week), which is crazy! Time flew by.

    Some questions I am left with:

What are the best treatments for diabetic retinopathy?

How can symptoms for certain ocular diseases be more recognizable to prevent any permanent damage to the retina?(whether this be from diabetes, AMD, or other diseases)

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 7, 2021 at 3:34 PM

    Hi Rachel, we read your blog from this week today in C&C. Your enthusiasm and wonder related to what you are experiencing and learning was palpable. How wonderful that your hard work and dedication was recognized by the leading ophthalmic technicians. What a unique opportunity to see how things are done in both locations, and be able to have a positive impact on patients served at both clinics. Thank you for sharing your questions with your readers. Do you get to talk through your questions with your mentors? It will be interesting to hear if you are able to answer them in your remaining time there. My husband is a type 1 diabetic and his doctors check his overall eye health on a regular basis with the hopes to avoid the complications you described. Please include an image or two if you are able in your next post. Thanks and enjoy!

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 13, 2021 at 12:26 PM

      Hi Lauren! Looks like I forgot to reply to your comment! I am so glad you were able to read my post in C&C. I do often learn a lot of the information I talk about while conversing with my mentor at work, so it is a really awesome experience. And yes! Unfortunately I forgot to take images for this week, but I will definitely(and do) have images for my last week!

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