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In this podcast, students from the seventh cohort of the Master of Science in Clinical Optometry international program share why they chose Salus and what they hope to get out of their time here.
Lujain Alrajhi: I'm Lujain from Saudi Arabia. I graduated from King Saudi University with a bachelor’s degree in optometry. After graduation, I started my career as an optometrist in one of the biggest hospitals in Saudi Arabia. While I was working in the hospital, I felt that I wanted to pursue my master’s degree, and that's when I applied to Salus University.
Xiaocui Liu: Hi, I'm Cui and I'm from China. I'm an optometrist in China and have 14 years working experience. I'm also a member of the MSCO. I love our program. I like it and enjoy it. I learn a lot from it.
Q: Why did you choose Salus?
Alrajhi: I chose Salus University because it has a master’s degree in Clinical Optometry with advanced study certified degree, which helps us in advancing our skills in a specific area such as low vision, contact lens, and binocular vision. Which is amazing because it gives us the chance to go with the area that we aspire to expand our up-to-date knowledge and increase our experiences through different workshops, labs, and even practicing in The Eye Institute, which will keep us experiencing how to treat patients in real life.
Liu: I chose the Salus because in my country there's a significant border between the optometrist and the eye doctors. So there are some special clinical procedures, [the optometrist] is not allowed to do, to work with the patient. But I'm good at the refractive correction, but I think it's narrow field and I think I do it well. So it is my comfort zone.
Why I came here? Because I want to broaden my narrow field and to choose an ideal school in my mind because Salus is very famous in China. I came from a recommendation of our Chinese professor. He told me that Salus optometry, this education is quite good. So a lot of Chinese colleagues came here to improve themselves. So me too, I joined.
Q: What do you hope to get out of the clinical procedures lab?
Alrajhi: The clinical procedure lab course trains us to be fully prepared to perform a full ocular examination on patients for the next course. I'm hoping to learn a lot about some of the tests, for example, posterior segment eye examinations using different instruments, as my experience was focused on refraction only and I didn't have much crossover into other areas. During this course, I've learned a lot and enjoyed gaining exposure to these different tests and now I feel that I'm ready to see and examine real patients in the next course.
Liu: What I learned and what I hope to take the knowledge and technology back to my country is now I do the tonometry, the gonioscopy, and posterior. I use the 90-degree lens or I use the BIO to check to look at the patient's posterior eyeball. And also the pupil test.
Even though some patients think, or some people think, the pupil test is quite easy, but for me, I never do this for my own Chinese patients before. This is a comprehensive eye examination here. So, I want to learn and I want to share about it, to take the comprehensive eye examination and to practice, to do it well and to share with other coworkers.
If I have a chance, I want to see the lab, to see the professors how [they] talk with their American patients, how to do to [conduct] the eye examinations, how to do the diagnosis about their disease and what's the treatment? Also, I'm interested in the binocular function and low vision rehabilitation. I borrow books from our libraries to learn myself. And the contact lens. So, there's quite a lot of information and technology I want to learn, but I think one year is not enough for me. If I have the chance, I want to learn, to see the other professors, the whole procedure.
To learn more about the Department of International and Continuing Education, visit salus.edu/international.
