This is a very interesting article that appeared in a New Mexico publication.
ABQjournal
Monday, February 21, 2005
Optometric Physicians Are Trained for Eye Surgery
By Dr. Jennifer Planitz-Clatanoff
Optometric Physician
How would you feel about a proposal that allowed patients more freedom of choice and better access to quality eye care? How would you feel if that same proposal saved consumers millions while continuing the highest patient service standards?
House Bill 199 proposes to do just that, not take New Mexico down a "dangerous path" as suggested by Dr. Kathleen Blake, president of the New Mexico Medical Society.
HB 199 would allow optometric physicians in the state of New Mexico to perform minor surgical procedures that are currently being taught in optometry schools. These procedures are being successfully performed by optometric physicians in other states, saving consumers millions in unnecessary additional office visits.
Blake irresponsibly states that optometric physicians "are not trained to diagnose, manage, or treat such events." Let's examine the truth about the training of optometric physicians, and how closely it parallels medical, dental, and podiatric schools.
The curriculum at each of the 17 U.S. schools and colleges of optometry is continuously updated to keep up with the rapid pace of development in medical care, so that graduates can be well trained in the use of new technologies, including lasers and other medical treatments related to eye disorders.
The training of optometric physicians is quite similar to that of dentists and podiatrists: Training is very highly specialized in treating one area of the body, with a broad supportive background in general health and medicine. The curriculum followed in all 17 schools is quite similar to medical school, in which the first and second years of education are primarily classroom instruction in the basic sciences. That education provides a scientific underpinning in all areas of complete eyecare, which includes the foundation for surgical procedures and techniques.
During the third and fourth years of the curriculum, students in all programs apply classroom instruction in the clinical care setting provided through the schools' clinics and extern sites throughout the country.
At Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Oklahoma, for example, students complete more than 40,000 patient contacts each year. Each student is educated in the risks and benefits of surgical procedures. The state law of Oklahoma allows optometric physicians, who have been certified, to perform certain surgical and laser procedures, as authorized by the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners in Optometry.
Graduates of the professional optometric doctoral programs are taught to handle emergencies and provide patient care with one thought always in mind patient health and safety comes first and is never compromised. The extensive certification process for laser and surgical procedures used in Oklahoma comes as part of the four-year professional curriculum and continuing post-graduate training for any optometric physicians that graduate from that program, in contrast to the medical model standard, which remains, "see one, do one, teach one."
Optometric physicians who perform laser surgery have done so safely and effectively for more than 15 years. To date, there have been no complaints by the public to either the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision or any other state regulatory board in regard to issues of malpractice or adverse outcomes resulting from optometric physicians performing laser surgery. The Veterans Administration has issued a written statement confirming that all laser surgical procedures performed by optometric physicians at VA facilities had acceptable outcomes with no complications.
This is reflected in the extraordinarily low malpractice premiums paid by optometric physicians as compared with ophthalmology. In contrast, an ophthalmologist's malpractice insurance, on average, costs 36 times more than an optometric physician practicing full scope.
Blake also incorrectly implied that optometric physicians do not prescribe drugs. Optometric physicians have been prescribing drugs in New Mexico for 20 years. Results: successful treatment of eye disease, no malpractice suits settled against optometry (can medicine say the same?), improved patient access to care and substantial savings of taxpayer dollars. Early detection of eye disease by optometric physicians using diagnostic drugs for the last 30 years has led only to the prevention of blindness not heart attacks, disability or blindness, as is always the rallying cry of the medical lobby.
To mislead the public is both irresponsible and unethical. The truth is that optometric physicians have the background and training to address the relief of ocular abnormalities of New Mexicans, including the surgical and laser procedures for which they are trained and certified.
In a state where billboards beg for more medical professionals, it makes sense to utilize the ones that we have to their fullest potential.
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Dr. Jennifer Planitz-Clatanoff is immediate past president of the New Mexico Optometric Association.
