Old Ophthalmic Personnel

Ophthalmic Medical Personnel Information

Our ophthalmic medical personnel (OMP) are an important part of the success of the University of Virginia Department of Ophthalmology. We employ OMP of all levels; from ophthalmic assistants to certified ophthalmic medical technologists, and from photographers to registered nurses. Each member of our clinical staff plays a vital role in the daily operations of our clinic. Junior staff are trained on the job by senior staff to maintain a highly skilled, experienced group of clinical personnel to provide quality patient care. Weekly continuing education lectures are presented to the staff to keep them current on the newest technologies and procedures as well as to provide continuing education credits to maintain certification levels.

Join Our Team

Current Openings:

Please visit the University of Virginia Health System’s Human Resources website to apply for jobs in the ophthalmology department:

https://hr.virginia.edu/careers-uva

For questions about our open positions or about employment in our department, please contact us at jenny@virginia.edu.

Benefits

UVA Medical Center Benefits

https://hr.virginia.edu/benefits

Department of Ophthalmology Benefits

Continuing Education:

Weekly Lecture Series: Faculty, residents, and fellows present relevant topics from 7:30 – 8:30AM each Wednesday. Approximately one lecture per month is accredited by JCAHPO for continuing education credit.
Humphries Symposium: Annual conference presented by the department each September. The department offers a separate program for ophthalmic medical personnel with lectures totaling six to seven continuing education credits through JCAHPO.

Travel:

Staff are allotted funding from the department to attend approved conferences or training programs. Funds cover travel expenses, lodging, meals and conference registration. Funds are distributed based on years of service and employment status.

Certification and Testing:

A staff member’s certification and exam fees and travel expenses will be covered by the department.
Training and support from senior technicians is provided to all staff members during the process of certification.

Information on career levels and opportunities at the following websites:

Photography

What is an Ophthalmic Photographer at UVA Department of Ophthalmology?

Ophthalmic photographers are trained ophthalmic medical personnel in ophthalmic medical technology and have also received additional formal and informal specialized training to perform a variety of ophthalmic photography imaging and other diagnostic tests. Ophthalmic photographers assist ophthalmology department physicians, and other medical personnel to evaluate eye clinic patients. In addition to their routine and primary duties, they participate in various ophthalmology researches and studies; e.g., Diabetes related retinal diseases.

Primary Functions of Ophthalmic Photographers:

Performs digital and film color fundus photography;
Performs external photography (still and video);
Performs angiograms – intravenous fluorescein angiography (IVFA) and indocyanine green (ICG);
Performs optical coherence tomography (OCT);
Photo and image database management; processing, transfer modalities and interfaces, and archival.

Secondary Job Functions:

Provide training and orientations to faculty, fellows, residents, and ophthalmic technicians;
Perform various study protocol digital and film photography and imaging.

Photography Diagnostic Equipment:

Trained ophthalmic photographers use several ophthalmic photography and imaging equipment to perform the above patient diagnostic and care functions. Photography equipment inventory at UVA includes but is not limited to the latest top of the line fundus cameras, OCTs, biomicroscope slit lamp cameras, digital SLR external cameras, video cameras, and SL-OCT. All UVA patient capture stations use state-of-the-art digitally networked equipment with remote access and processing of patient photo data on all viewing stations and exam rooms.

Vocabulary:

A fundus camera or retinal camera is a specialized low power microscope with an attached 35mm camera or digital camera designed to capture photographs of the inner lining of the eye comprising the retina, optic disc, macula, and the posterior pole of the eye. A fundus camera allows photographers to illustrate different anatomical features of any given study such as macular degeneration and optic dystrophies.
Color fundus photography – This is where the retina (inner lining of the back of the eye) is illuminated by white light and examined in full color (real time/life).
Black and white-red-free photography – This is when illuminating light from the camera is filtered in the light delivery system to remove red colors, in order to improve the contrast of vessels and other anatomical structures and features.
Angiography – retinal and choroidal blood vessels are brought into high contrast by intravenous injection of a contrast dye called sodium fluorescein. The retina is illuminated with an excitation color which fluoresces light of another color where the dye is present. By filtering to exclude the excitation color and pass the fluorescent color, a very high-contrast image of the vessels is produced.
Fluorescein phases – This carefully orchestrated process of shooting a timed sequence of photographs of the progression of the dye into the vessels reveals the flow dynamics and related pathologies. This is done through two (2) main angiogram types: Fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green (ICG).