Optometry Clerkships

The Optometry Clerkship is designed to provide an enhanced clinical experience for final year (4th professional year) optometry students in preparation for practice within Canada. Students are required to complete two fifteen week clerkship semesters, in a variety of approved clinics within Canada and the United States.

The primary goal of the Optometry Clerkship is to provide the student with hands-on clinical experience. Specifically, clerkships are designed to enhance the student’s clinical techniques, diagnosis and management skills, through the application of previously learned concepts and under the guidance of a registered optometrist.

Clerkship overview

The 4th professional year is divided into 3 terms (spring: May – August; fall: August – December; winter: January – April) and are 15 weeks in length, or may be further divided into subdivided into two 7 week or 8 week terms so that the student can get a more diversified clinical experience.
To ensure that all students receive a complete clinical experience, rotations may be hospital-based, institutional, or in a private practice environment; allowing students to gain administrative and practice management experience along with patient care.

Clerkship Site Assignment Process

Students are assigned to their Clinical Clerkship Placements in the fall of their third professional year. Site assignment is based on student selection from a list of placements that have been credentialed and approved by the WOVS Optometry Clerkship Committee. Because the number of sites being offered may exceed the number of students that require placements, it is not guaranteed that all sites will be assigned a student in a given term/year.

Site supervisors interested in joining the program, please contact opt.clerk@uwaterloo.ca.