In every field out there whether it is business, real estate, dentistry, or optometry there is always a current event that affects the field, whether it be in a good way or bad way they all get affected at some point. Things that can affect the field of Optometry is exactly what kind of things a Optometrist can do with their patients. Ever since Optometry came to be a career, there has always been a debate of what the difference is between an Optometrist and a Ophthalmologist.
At one point, Optometrist where viewed more like Opticians, they were not allowed to touch or get near a patients eyes. As time passed Optometrists were able to get laws passed that allowed them to do more with patients therefore expanding there capability to open their own business and also not to have to work under an Ophthalmologist. This has had a big impact on Optometrist until this day.
Even though Optometrists are now able to have there own practice, there are still some issues that Optometrist are still dealing with. Across the United States, many Optometrist have certain restrictions that are different in every state. Some restrictions can include the prohibition of fitting contact lenses on a patient. Even though that might sound weird to us because many of us, here in California can go to our Optometrist and get fitted for contact lenses, in other states that is prohibited and the Optometrist would have to refer the patient to an Ophthalmologist. Even though many of these restrictions may not apply to us in California, they do affect a lot of people in other states.
So now that Optometrist can do things like exams and fittings does that take away from jobs that Ophthalmologist would have had?
ReplyDeleteYa, it appears with the passing of these laws allowing optometrists to be more independent would take away business from Ophthalmologist. Sounds like these laws really worked in the optometrist favor, which is good news for you Rebbecca. I personally have never dealt with an ophthalmologist before, and hopefully never have to. Yet, it appears they are the more elite personnel within eye care. Have you ever thought about becoming an ophthalmologist, it seems like they would get paid more?
ReplyDeleteI know how it feels when there is a job that pretty similar with yours and people get confused on the differences between them because that's how I feel as Information System major student. However, I found this very interesting article (Ophthalmologist vs. Optometrist by Mike Parker, Demand Media), it shows how the growth the Optometrist is actually higher than Ophthalmologist. Even though Ophthalmologist has a much higher annual wage median, but I feel that Optometrist should be promising in long run.
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