Part 6: Advice from the experts: Helpful information for current residents

In this series, experts in the field advise current residents and offer insight into how they can make the most of their time and experience moving forward with their careers.

Video Transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Fatemah Rajaii, MD, PhD:

So I think one thing is to remember to have a high index of suspicion for thyroid eye disease. Thyroid eye disease is the most common cause of either unilateral or bilateral proptosis in adults. But can also manifest in many different ways, such as eyelid retraction and even as something as minor as dry eye. So really keeping that index of suspicion high and remembering to order labs in order to help rule it out is a good thing to keep in mind.

John D Sheppard, MD, MMSc, FACS:

My advice to a resident today is that you've made a great decision. You've gone into ophthalmology. There is no better specialty with medical and surgical care, so much innovation, so much excitement. And really what we understand after being in this field for such a long time is we have a lot of comradery. So what should you do with your career? One, you go somewhere you want to be. Two, you join a group of like-minded individuals who you will enjoy spending your daylight hours with. It's very simple.

Jonathan Tan:

I think today it's kind of like what we're talking about with sustainability in general, it's the small steps that matter. It's the fact that you can just encourage your fellow clinicians, fellow residents, and people around you to just continue using these eye drops until the end of the expiration date. There have been multiple studies published that show that there isn't really high contamination rates, and we know that's the biggest concern for keeping these eye drops at the 28 day expiration date. So the biggest thing just to take those small steps, start in your clinic, encourage others, tell others about it, and hopefully that'll spread the word out.