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I do it part time. It blows.
Pros: uh, i guess if you get the right gig you can make decent money all while working 8 days/week
Cons: where do I start...
Pros: uh, i guess if you get the right gig you can make decent money all while working 8 days/week
Cons: where do I start...
A link for those interested in a "career" at walmart.... Its YOUR practice!🙄
http://www.walmartod.com/default.aspx
http://www.walmartod.com/default.aspx
I worked in a Pearle Vision Express very briefly. It was extremely boring. A busy day was 12 patients, and the exams took so little time that there was a lot of downtime. Being stuck indoors on the weekend in Miami waiting for patients to walk in the door was brutal.
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I've worked part time at: Walmart, Sam's, Sears and JcPenneys (all since I graduated in May). Its the same BS everywhere you go. The Walmart was probably the best of the four, because the equipment wasn't 40 years old, but they also did a lot of "suggesting" as far as fees went. Like when I raised my exam fee from $45 to a WHOPPING $49. A few weeks in, the head optician pulled me aside and suggested I lower my fee to $45 so I didn't "confuse the patients." WTF? I'm sure she did it at the request of the DM (who, by the way, went from the head of the tire and lube department to the optical DM).
No. Independent contractor, as always.
This isn't another thread about commercial bashing is it?
😀
😀
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I work for a corporate location for 100000+ 5 days a week/ 10h days except for sunday.
Pros: I don't have to deal with all the business/insurance end of things. Being right out of school it helps just to deal with the problems the patients bring me. The high salary is helping me get back on my feet after years and years of being a poor student. I have my own office after practicing three months. I go to the same place everyday and get paid benefits.
Cons: I don't have any control over my schedule. If the staff wants to stick me with five patients between 7:00 pm and 7:30 (my last appt) you better believe they will do it. I've seen up to 40 patients in one day. I know there's been quite a few days where i don't get a lunch and get tunnel vision from trying not to pass out before the day is over. I don't get enough respect. Wait until the 22 year old assistant manager who emerges daily from the ghetto to drag herself to the store tells you you better well not go to lunch without seeing the patient who just walked in, and then tells you that if you refer just one more patient for cataracts you're going to cost her her spiffs. And then there is being asked whether or not I'm a real doctor five times a day.
Some days I hate it . Some days its fine.
Pros: I don't have to deal with all the business/insurance end of things. Being right out of school it helps just to deal with the problems the patients bring me. The high salary is helping me get back on my feet after years and years of being a poor student. I have my own office after practicing three months. I go to the same place everyday and get paid benefits.
Cons: I don't have any control over my schedule. If the staff wants to stick me with five patients between 7:00 pm and 7:30 (my last appt) you better believe they will do it. I've seen up to 40 patients in one day. I know there's been quite a few days where i don't get a lunch and get tunnel vision from trying not to pass out before the day is over. I don't get enough respect. Wait until the 22 year old assistant manager who emerges daily from the ghetto to drag herself to the store tells you you better well not go to lunch without seeing the patient who just walked in, and then tells you that if you refer just one more patient for cataracts you're going to cost her her spiffs. And then there is being asked whether or not I'm a real doctor five times a day.
Some days I hate it . Some days its fine.
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that's insane! why would someone ask you if you're a real doctor or not? i dont get that at all!
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I haven't gotten that in a long time, but on the rare occasion I get it, I always respond with the following....
"No...I'm not a real doctor. I'm a doctor like Julius Irving is a doctor."
That's nothing. Yesterday at one of the commercial places I fill in, a patient came in with VSP. I overheard the staff tell him, "That's only good at doctor's offices." Exact quote. At first I thought (or hoped) they misspoke, but then they said it again. To make things worse, after saying it the second time the patients asks "Well, isn't this a doctor's office?", the optician said "No, it's retail."
Yet another reason i started my own practice.
Yet another reason i started my own practice.
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This sounds like it may help to educate consumers about the common differences in going to a retail location and a private office. It strengthens the distinction between the two practice modes.
On one hand, I agree completely. But when you're sitting there in the office and your staff is saying this isn't a doctors office, its still annoying.
I hate walk-ins. Then, people think they can just wander in any time for their follow ups and we'll take them. (and then get pissy when we're busy and they actually have to wait)
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Wow...one patient in 4 hours??? I would rather go fishing. A slow day for me is 14-16, and a full day 22+. I can't imagine how bored I would be if I wasn't busy.
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I think those cons would outweigh the pros for me.
Sometimes 40 patients a day? Having to answer to the assistant manager? "Are you a real doctor?"
I'm starting to see the problems with commercial.
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Somewhere in Texas, Indiana, and Connecticut there is at least one private practice OD smiling.
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Somewhere in Texas, Indiana, and Connecticut there is at least one private practice OD smiling.
Here I am from Texas. Better late than never.😀
I am an Optical Mgr. (Certified Optician) for Wal-Mart and I am also a Pre-Optometry student. I plan on working in corporate optometry because I see what Optometrists make on a daily basis without all the overhead. All you do is show up, see patients, you tell them when you want to work and how often to schedule appts. They supply you with a tech who does all of the pre-testing, I & R, and paperwork. Also, the optical staff deals with all the insurance. The Dr. never even knows whether a patient has insurance or not. They make Dr's sign a simple contract but they never hold you to it and if you ever decide to leave, all you do is give a 30 or 60 day notice. I've worked with private OD's also, and I prefer corporate. All the corporate OD's that I've worked with (15 or more over the years) make over $110,000 a year starting out and that is only working 4 or 5 days a week. No Dr. ever works on Sundays, unless he/she just wants to. Your scope of practice all depends on you. If you want to co-manage or do pre and post ops you can. The equipment is standard - full exam lane, auto refractor/keratometer, NCT and Goldman, and Visual Field. Full range of contact lens trials in most brands and powers. I live in an average size town and there are 3 other OD's within 5 miles of our location. We see an average of 10 to 15 patients a day, however yesterday we saw 19, not bad for the week before Christmas. I don't see what all the fuss about corporate optometry is but everybody is different. If patients like you and you give a good eye exam, that's all that matters.
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IndianaOD!!!!
No comment! 😱
Hopefully this student won't take a class seat away from someone who wants to practice in a professoinal manner.
Walmart can also cancel your "lease" at any time for any reason.
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To each his own.
I reckon we have the exact same mentality in this area.
I have never seen corporate Optometry personally. I am a student working in private Optometry and I cannot imagine ever working in a corporate setting after all of the hard work I have and will put into becoming an OD.
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I started typing a long response but bleh... Bottom line, how does working corporate change the effort you put in to getting your OD?
And how can you shun it if you haven't experienced it personally?
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I can't believe some of the responses I am reading. You guys make Corporate optometry sound like something evil or unethical. If you address each and every patient's chief compliant, satisfy them and are very personable and affable with everyone then what difference is corporate from private?
It doesn't matter where you practice. As long as you provide a caring attitude to each and evey patient that's all that counts.
You think every private OD picks up a retinal hole that corporate OD's miss? Or you think every privare OD treats glaucoma patients that corporate OD's refer out?
For those whodon't have the start up to open a practice, the corporate world offers you a comftable living.
Habitual Rx- you don't know know what you are talking about.
It doesn't matter where you practice. As long as you provide a caring attitude to each and evey patient that's all that counts.
You think every private OD picks up a retinal hole that corporate OD's miss? Or you think every privare OD treats glaucoma patients that corporate OD's refer out?
For those whodon't have the start up to open a practice, the corporate world offers you a comftable living.
Habitual Rx- you don't know know what you are talking about.
I view corporate Optometry as a way for large companies to make more money. When making money seems to be more important than patient care, I feel let down by the profession. That's all - the OD working in corporate may not see it that way but maybe it's just me...
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I agree. I know everyone has heard it 10,000 times, but the damage to optometry's image really is a problem. A lot of people don't think ODs go through all the training they do because of where some of them work. Why would Joe public think that a "doctor" with 8 years of training would work at walmart.
The low exam fees and acceptance of low ball insurances also hurt us ALL!
I don't necessarilly think commercial ODs are bad docs per say (though a lot do 4 minute quicky exams and refer out everything to ophthalmologists, also making us look bad) but they are bad professional optometrists. They are stabbing their colleagues in the back for the "easy" road.
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The issue with corporate optometry "ethics" is not the day to day patient interactions per se, but the long term effect working in corporate practice has on the profession. The more corporations are empowered by ODs, the more control they will ultimately have over the profession. Is that what we want? Do we want the profession controlled by ODs or by Luxottica and Walmart? Do we want to end up like pharmacy, where we end up working retail hours in retail locations for a salary that essentially capped? I can't speak for the rest of you but I sure don't want that.
I dont understand why more schools are opening up.
If the AOA knows this problem exists, Im pretty sure they read this forum, than why do they continue to open new schools with graduates who will be working at corporate stores ?
Optometry will most likely, in the next decade or so, be corporate based. That would suck.
I guess if the AOA is not going to magnify this issue, its upto the graduates to negate contracts from corporate stores and pursue a career at a private practice.
Also, the public should be informed that it does not take 4 mins for a comprehensive eye exam.
If the AOA knows this problem exists, Im pretty sure they read this forum, than why do they continue to open new schools with graduates who will be working at corporate stores ?
Optometry will most likely, in the next decade or so, be corporate based. That would suck.
I guess if the AOA is not going to magnify this issue, its upto the graduates to negate contracts from corporate stores and pursue a career at a private practice.
Also, the public should be informed that it does not take 4 mins for a comprehensive eye exam.
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1) It is not the AOA who is opening schools, nor do they run any of the current schools.
2) How long should a comprehensive eye exam take?
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All A's are B's; all C's are D's :. All A's are D's?
Of course corporate XXXXXXX is a way for large companies to make more money; that's almost redundant.
To the Corporation, making money will be more important than patient care.. ok I agree.
However, I am under the understanding that the OD still has autonomy over the exam and QOS. He/She may be pressured by corp to cut corners or push products that instead increase profits, but the OD has the ultimate say. So it is up to the OD to follow his/her morals.
Is Corporate Optometry bad for the profession, i believe it will be. Are Corporate OD's bad people? I think not. Are they bad ODs? Most likely no.
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The AOA is loosly involved in accrediting schools through ASCO but they have already taken a "we can't take a position" position on the new schools which is probably a good thing. As much as I think the new schools are NOT needed, I don't think that the accrediting body should be arbitrarily denying accreditation to programs that meet the standards.
Also, with proper delegation to skilled technicians I can easily do a comprehensive eye exam in 10 minutes and in many cases 5 for just about any condition out there and I can do it in such a way that the patients thinks they got an extremely thorough workup.
Hmm... suppose a doc is working 5 days 8 hrs/day treating an average of 25 patients per day.
25 patients x 7.5mins = 188mins
So, out of the 8 hours a doctor works, only 188mins/480 mins are utilized for work = so working 39% of the time ?
Alot of free time I suppose. Maybe the XBOX that Ryan was talking about is a good investment. 😀
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It may only take 5-10 minutes to perform the tests required for a comprehensive eye exam, but the entire patient encounter takes much more time. I probably spend close to 15-20 minutes with each patient that comes in for a full eye exam. The majority of that time is spent talking, not performing tests, but the bottom line is that it does not take very long to perform a comprehensive eye exam.
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Thank you Ben....that is the point that I was trying to make.
Let's also all keep in mind that many ophthalmologists perform "comprehensive" exams in much less time than the average Walmart doc and those patients who see the OMDs are not suffering from epidemics of blindness.
I'm not suggesting that we adopt that model however, but the notion that it takes piles and piles of "doctor time" to perform a comprehensive exam is just silly.
Corporate ODs are most definitely not bad ODs in my mind. They take the exact same road that a private OD takes to become that professional.
At the end of the day, I believe it should be the OD who guides the patient to the right corrective measure. Not the corporate name who has the money and power to do so.
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Greetings,
I agree with Ben, it does not take that long to perform a comprehensive eye exam; especially if you know what you are doing and are really good. 15-20 minutes is good time.
All this talk about corporate optometry and corporations control over OD's and etc......and so forth.........how do you discourage the US public from not going to get eye exams at Walmart? Does the average American in this country know any better and why do they choose Walmart or store X Y or Z to go get their eyes examined?
I have asked myself many times working in reatil how do these people off the street just come in not knowing how good or bad the OD is, and wanting to have their eyes checked? From our perspective, we bitch how they don't see us our real doctors working in such settings. But why do they come in by the dozens?
Example, McDonalds is the biggest garbage fast food out there. Why do millions of pewople eat there knowing it's bad for their health? HBP, cholesterol, etc........
Are we a stupid nation?
I agree with Ben, it does not take that long to perform a comprehensive eye exam; especially if you know what you are doing and are really good. 15-20 minutes is good time.
All this talk about corporate optometry and corporations control over OD's and etc......and so forth.........how do you discourage the US public from not going to get eye exams at Walmart? Does the average American in this country know any better and why do they choose Walmart or store X Y or Z to go get their eyes examined?
I have asked myself many times working in reatil how do these people off the street just come in not knowing how good or bad the OD is, and wanting to have their eyes checked? From our perspective, we bitch how they don't see us our real doctors working in such settings. But why do they come in by the dozens?
Example, McDonalds is the biggest garbage fast food out there. Why do millions of pewople eat there knowing it's bad for their health? HBP, cholesterol, etc........
Are we a stupid nation?
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You will get a lot of different opinions regarding commercial practice based on how someone was treated while in that situation. Most commercial ODs don't go on forums like this (and a lot of PP ODs make it their mission to try to discourage students from considering commercial) so you don't really get the full picture.
Can it be a bad situation? Sure, it depends on whether or not you're employed and whether or not you have a strong enough personality to not be stepped on (and enough skills to back up your gumption...you have to be good enough to be worth your demands). The important point is that IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE. I am currently in a really good situation, but I did a lot of groundwork prior to taking the offices.
The truth is that PP ODs despise commercial ODs for the choice they made (right, steveMc1?), but it's also true that a commercial office is just a place to work. You can do a bad job or you can do a great job. The burn-out ODs that do bad exams would be just as worthless in PP.
You have the potential to create a large patient base, have a lot of autonomy (you never have total autonomy anywhere), make plenty of money and be a credit to your profession based on YOUR PERFORMANCE rather than some antiquated ideals that don't really reflect the current market forces.
Can it be a bad situation? Sure, it depends on whether or not you're employed and whether or not you have a strong enough personality to not be stepped on (and enough skills to back up your gumption...you have to be good enough to be worth your demands). The important point is that IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE. I am currently in a really good situation, but I did a lot of groundwork prior to taking the offices.
The truth is that PP ODs despise commercial ODs for the choice they made (right, steveMc1?), but it's also true that a commercial office is just a place to work. You can do a bad job or you can do a great job. The burn-out ODs that do bad exams would be just as worthless in PP.
You have the potential to create a large patient base, have a lot of autonomy (you never have total autonomy anywhere), make plenty of money and be a credit to your profession based on YOUR PERFORMANCE rather than some antiquated ideals that don't really reflect the current market forces.
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from my experience, no matter how strong of a personality one might have and no matter how clinically competent one is, affable, courteous and professional one might also be in commercial places; businessmen / opticians can get rid of you in a drop of a dime. Period. Sure, good work and customer/ patient service goes a long way but for them - the bottom line is $$$. All they care is the dollar- bottom line. No matter how great skill wise one is and strong character- they do not care- they get rid of you 1-2-3.
I don't complete buy your statement.
I don't complete buy your statement.
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Just relaying the situation I'm in. I set my hours, set my schedule, charge double what most commercial ODs charge, and take frequent time off. I have built up a patient base and a good reputation so I am an asset. I could have my contract cancelled tomorrow in theory, but what would be gained? They would lose a good OD that would take the bulk of his patients with him when he moved down the street? What makes the optical money is stability and building patients over time. Contrary to popular belief, an optical hurts themselves tremendously by high OD attrition.
A lot of ODs go into commercial practice with one of two attitudes:
1) I'm only a short timer, so who cares how I treat this office.
2) I'm a doctor and by God nobody is going to suggest anything to me that I don't already know!
I don't mean to sound like I'm some blow-hard that "calls the shots" everywhere. I have been in the system for 3 years and I have worked hard to develop a good relationship with WM (and I feel they worked to achieve the same thing) and the optical so that when something comes up that I want, I'm on solid ground to get it. I was in the same system 5 years ago and it was a miserable experience because I suffered from 1 AND 2 above. Anytime a suggestion or request was made, I took it as trying to control me and I responded very negatively to it. I think that some ODs have an aversion to developing a rapport with the corporate side because they feel it beneath them.
That having been said, they will scrub the toilets for the PP OD that they work for and generally be led around by the nose (although they don't see it that way). You have to get along with the people you work with regardless of the geography. If you are a jerk, you will probably be replaced at the first opportunity. Hell, I'd fire you myself!
What percentage do you think would follow you? If you left and some new doc came in and charged half as much, do you think most of your patients would really follow you? I'm just curious. I've heard that only a small percentage will actually do that.
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