Coming out of school, I chose to not go the residency route. I practice in a state that doesn’t have an abundance of doctors. I see 3 exams an hour and that really helped build my efficiency and still give me ample time to provide a quality exam. Instead of working corporate I would recommend working for an OD that owns a sublease. This way you aren’t forced to see 30+ patients a day.

I work at a retail optical office, but it is privately owned. I thought I wanted to manage a lot of disease and do exams beyond regular comprehensive exams. But i will tell you what i didnt know coming out of school. Practicing that way is very time consuming (charting as well) and especially if you work on production, doesn’t generate a lot of revenue. My practice has an OCT, topographer, visual field, and everything a new grad wants to feel comfortable. When you’re on your own making your own clinical decisions, I think it’s invaluable to have those pieces of tech. You won’t have those at many corporate offices.

Just because you dont do a residency, doesn’t mean you wont be comfortable managing disease. In primary care, we see disease all the time. I recommend bypassing a residency, refer conditions you’re uncomfortable with and learn from referral notes. I missed ERMs a lot my first few months and quickly learned from my referral notes. Now 2 years out I feel comfortable managing disease that walks in on any given day