Teaching Clinical Facilities: Where Patients Receive Next Level Care
As a teaching facility, The Eye Institute (TEI) has two locations in the Philadelphia area. TEI provides comprehensive eye care services including primary care, low vision, contact lenses, dry eye, pediatrics, and more. The goal of the clinical facility is to provide exceptional eye care while also teaching and developing the next generation of eye care providers.
You may be wondering, what does it mean to be a “teaching clinic?” How is it different from a regular clinical facility? What are the benefits of receiving care at a teaching facility? This article is here to answer all of your questions!
Teaching clinical facilities are affiliated with a school or educational program, and students from the program work on-site alongside faculty or preceptors as a part of their educational experience.
The Eye Institute, a teaching facility for the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Drexel University, Elkins Park campus, is largely staffed by third-and fourth-year Doctor of Optometry students. Fourth-year students, who are in their last year of their educational program and merely months from graduation, work at the clinical site daily as a part of their clinical rotations, so patients are likely to interact with them. Third-year students work in the clinical site a few days per week as they transition into their clinical rotations. Regardless of where a student is within their education, they must pass a practical exam before entering TEI to ensure they can safely and effectively work with patients, so rest assured patients are in good hands with all students at TEI.
During the exam, the students work closely with an optometrist. This is one of the largest benefits of visiting a teaching facility: the doctors are some of the best of the best. All the optometrists at TEI are residency-trained, meaning they received extra training after their four years Doctor of Optometry education in certain specialties.
Because TEI involves teaching and education, the doctors are extremely experienced and highly regarded within the profession. Their expertise is invaluable for educating students and delivering the highest quality of patient care.
Another benefit of a teaching facility, and TEI in particular, is that there are many different specialty services with experts in multiple different areas.
For example, if a patient comes in for an annual eye exam in the primary care service, and the examination reveals severe dry eye, doctors at TEI can consult the same day with a dry eye specialist on-staff or refer the patient for a TEI comprehensive dry eye exam. The interdisciplinary teams that accompany educational clinics help provide the best and most comprehensive care possible to all patients at The Eye Institute.
In addition, a teaching facility offers the thoroughness of care. After the student intern completes the exam, the on-site optometrist will recheck key findings and discuss treatment and management with the patient. Although this makes exam times a little longer than usual, patients can be sure nothing regarding their eye health or wellness was missed.
A comprehensive and thorough eye exam is extremely important because many eye diseases can only be treated if they are caught early in the disease process. Patients at TEI can feel very confident they received an extremely thorough and comprehensive eye exam because multiple eye care providers assessed them throughout their visit. A longer eye exam is worth it to ensure patients experience a long life of healthy eyes and clear vision.
Patients at The Eye Institute receive high quality, holistic care while contributing to the development of the next generations of eye doctors. Teaching institutions are thorough and highly regarded places to receive care, and TEI is no different.
Schedule your exam with The Eye Institute today by calling 215.276.6000: Oak Lane: 1200 West Godfrey Ave. Philadelphia, PA 1914; Chestnut Hill, Chestnut Hill Plaza, 7630 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118.