How to Find the Best Retina Specialist | Patient Advocacy

How to find the best retina specialist, Randall Wong, M.D., Retina Specialist, Fairfax, Virginia 22031

How to Find the Best Retina Specialist | Patient Advocacy

How to find the best retina specialist, Randall Wong, M.D., Retina Specialist, Fairfax, Virginia 22031How do you find the best retina specialist?  (In fact, how do you find the best doctor?)

Remember that for me to become a retina specialist, I had to sub-specialize after completing general ophthalmology training.

As a physician and retina specialist in Fairfax, Virginia, even I don’t know how to go about answering this question.

Education of the “Best Retina Specialist”

An easy place to start might be the places of higher education; college and medical school.   Entrance to medical school from one of the thousands of colleges or universities depends upon many variables;

  • caliber/quality of undergraduate curriculum
  • GPA (grade point average)
  • Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores
  • Interviews

Having gone through the list, the criteria for admissions to medical school, regardless of curriculum, is based upon selecting the most “qualified” students to succeed with the medical school curriculum – heavily based upon academic success in basic sciences.

Getting into and graduating from medical school simply says that graduates are the smartest of the smart – they did the best in undergraduate studies and passed a rigorous medical education curriculum – of course work.

Smart, but what we are in search of the best retina specialist.

Residency in Ophthalmology

After graduating from medical school, I completed a 1 year “internship” in general internal medicine.  This is required and gave me the first responsibilities as a full-fledged “M.D.”  This was followed by my residency in ophthalmology.

This additional residency gave me the necessary training to become a specialist – an ophthalmologist.

I completed a residency in ophthalmology.  As an ophthalmology “resident” I serve as an apprentice to older, practicing ophthalmologists.

Matriculation to residency is based upon grades in medical school and recommendations from medical school staff.  Matriculation to residency becomes less objective compared to entrance to medical school.

Differences between residency programs?  Not sure, but they are usually a result of polls/questionnaires of all the other residency program directors in the country.

Best Retina Fellowship Training

For completion, for me to become a retina specialist, I needed more training to become a retina specialist.  This last phase of training was based upon recommendations from my residency program.  There is no test to become a retina specialist.

To be continued……..

Randy

Randall V. Wong, M.D.
Retina Specialist
Fairfax, Virginia 22031

 

 

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