Gaining Experience In Optometry

Many college students work in places that do not relate to what they are going to school for. Some are fortunate to be able to do so, but for those that have to work in fields that is completely opposite of what you want to be it can be hard. Many of the jobs that we would actually want and that relate to our career are usually jobs that require experience or some sort of degree, unfortunately some of us may not have that still. Now a days, a lot of grad schools and jobs require that you have some kind of experience in the field before they accept you into their school or hire you into their company. The reasons I believe they do this is because they want to know that they are accepting or hiring a person that won't get bored or tired of the spot they are given within a week, therefore wasting either the company's or school's time. Not only will they waste their own time and the company's and school's time, but they will also take the spot of someone who might really want to be there. For this reason it is always a good idea to volunteer or become an intern at an office or company that relates to your future career.

In my case I am planning to apply to Optometry next year, if I get all my classes done in time. For Optometry school Optometric experience is not required, but it is recommended. Currently I work at a dental office, which is a completely different field then Optometry, but I would like to believe that with this job I am gaining a lot of experience working with patients in a professional way, dealing with insurances, and also dealing with billing. These things are important for me because when I become an Optometrist I will be working with many patients and since I will open up my own office one day, knowing how to deal with insurances, payments and buying supplies for the office is a great skill to have. However, I have also volunteered an Optometrist office. During this time I learned a few things that Optometrist do and I also learned new terms that I had never heard before. I believe it is always a good idea to volunteer or become an intern in a field you are trying to get into because that can determine if you really actually like it or not. 

During the time I have been in school, I have only volunteered in two different places. One of them being UCSF volunteer department. The experience I believe I gained from UCSF is patient experience. This experience will benefit me in the long run because it has increased my knowledge about how patients are and also the different types of patients there is.

I have also volunteered at an Optometry place inside of Mission Neighborhood Health Center which is located in the Mission District of San Francisco. This office is privately own and it gave me an insight of how it would be when I one day own my own office. In this office I learned other things as well such as how often patients need to get examined depending on the severity of their cases and also depending on their age. I learned a lot of other interesting facts about the eyes and the ways certain diseases can affect eye vision.

Even though I have only really volunteered at one Optometry place, I feel like I have learned a lot. I do plan on volunteering at other offices and I am trying to volunteer at hospitals and also with non-profit organizations. There are a couple of places that offer volunteer opportunities one of them being VOSH, (Volunteer Optometric Services To Humanity). The services they provide are mostly out of the country. What they do is provide vision care for places such as Nicaragua, Mexico, Phillipines, and many other countries that need assistance in vision care. Another place that offers the same types of services and accepts volunteers is Unite for Site. There are many other places that someone can volunteer or intern at that relates to Optometry, not only do you help yourself when you do these types of services, but you also help others in need.