I've been an OD for about 16 years and I'm very concerned about the future of this profession.
First, there are way too many of us. I read last year that it's predicted there will be 8000 excessive eye care practitioners (OMD plus OD) in the US in ten years. Given there should be one OD for approx every 6000 people for a full-time practice ... that figure gives me pause.
Second, we're divided as a result of a general optometric revolt that occurred a few years ago when the American Optometric Association was pushing National Board Certification as a requirement for licensure. The excuse was that some AOA lawyers believed the Affordable Care Act mandated that only board certified physicians could receive payments under Obamacare. But that only applied to MD's, I believe, and not to ancillary health care professionals such as optometrists. The general optometric public was opposed to the national board certification initiative and despite that the AOA pushed forward anyway. A HUGE number of OD's dropped AOA membership to the point where the AOA faced serious financial problems.
The AOS was established by former AOA members. Then, the AOA developed an expensive and timely board certification course. The AOA developed their course. the AOA sued the AOS and won. The AOS dropped their course and the AOA continues on.
What's funny is that now the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, the only national authority in this issue in the US, is now offering a board certification program at like around a hundred dollars. They give you a study guide and 7 years to prep for the course.
And yet, board certification is not required at any state level. So I figure why should I bother???? I'm sick of studying the same boring stuff and really would rather spend my free time studying something new and more challenging, such as Botany.
I love plants. They don't talk back. They're very honest. If you do something wrong, they die, and that's it.
Anyway, I feel kinda lost as an OD ... with no professional identity. This isn't the profession I originally went into. What's happened to Vision Therapy and Sports Vision and the keystone binocular scopes and some of the stuff that made optometry a completely distinct profession from ophthalmology?
I went to a professional meeting in Berkeley last week and they squeezed 500 optometrists into a 3000 square foot room. I've never seen so many OD's in my life. The room was filled beyond capacity. I had half a mind to call the fire department or code enforcement and turn them in for a major violation. There's no way those rooms were approved for that many people!
The event was sponsored by UC Berkeley College of Optometry. Really one of the best schools. They didn't even have enough respect for their own members to make certain that we were reasonably comfortable during the meeting (which was at a hotel). I actually had an unexpected attack of claustrophobia. My fiancee (who is not an OD) was waiting for me outside and he found an angry old OD holed up in the bathroom cussing because he had to pee and the proctors wouldn't let him out. (The doors were closed and it was getting really hot in there). Other OD's were complaining about it. I seriously expected more from UC Berkeley. I won't be going there again. I'll go to PUCO for my CE in the future or to GWCO in PDX.
I digress.
I've just seen some disturbing trends come up the pike and just when I thought the profession could not become more pretentious and self-congratulatory, the state board or the AOA come up with some new change they MUST make to the profession to remain competitive in the new millenium.
What they tout as progress is really an attempt to save the profession that the AOA has steered into ruin with it's agenda of medical optometry.
Really, unless you practice VT-related stuff, you're really nothing more than a wannabe MD.
I can't recommend this profession to anyone.
I've been surfing around the net a lot. There are problems in a LOT of health professions. Nursing is stressful and involves cleaning excrement. Dentistry involves all patients hating you. ETC...
The best health professions are NOT the position of the physician but that of a tech. Example: Cardiac Ultrasonographer. Medical imaging specialties. I see lots of job offers everywhere for occupational therapists and physical therapists. I think that fitting veterans with a prosthetic who had a leg blown off would be really rewarding. Or an arm prosthetic. You can also work with the visually impaired to help them ambulate inside their homes. That would be cool. Being PA is not a bad way to go. PA's can do a lot of interesting stuff like slicing and draining skin lesions. A lot of those careers are 5 yr bachelor careers. And the ROI is a LOT higher than for a higher professional degree.
And on the upside you don't have the stress of being in a position of top authority. It's stressful making those decisions because you'll doubt yourself all the time if you're a good doctor. If you're a tech, you don't have to make those decisions in the first place and you'll still take home 60-80K per year.
