Future of Optometry

[Mishty4u]

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I am looking for any information on the future of optometry and where it is headed. Does it look like there will be more of a supply of optometrist than needed? I know as the baby bloomers are getting older optometrist will be very busy, but what about afterwards? Does anyone see a raise in the future?

 

[ODhopeful]

I am looking for any information on the future of optometry and where it is headed. Does it look like there will be more of a supply of optometrist than needed? I know as the baby bloomers are getting older optometrist will be very busy, but what about afterwards? Does anyone see a raise in the future?

Until we start doing cataract and becoming more competent in seeing pathology, the baby boomer won't affect us that much. Maybe slightly better than now. Just don't do it, optometry is no good.

 

[Mishty4u]

why do u feel tht way?

 

[Oogilily]

This question is getting a little old. It has been done over and over again in this forum. If you don't like the outlook of optometry then you're probably in the wrong place. You're either in or out. Any job is what you make of it.

 

[ddown]

Oogililiy,

Its a bit more complicated than "any job is what you make of it". You may love your job, but when an OD is carrying a mortgage-worth of student loan debt and their salary isnt what it could be due to optometric oversupply, managed-care, etc. then it's not quite so rosy. Im a resident right now and I enjoy this profession, but there are issues with our future.

Mishty4U is concerned about a decision that may effect the rest of their life To boil it down to something so black and white like "your either in or your out" is an easy thing to say as a pre-optometry college student. There are always shades of gray to any argument.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

People can speculate all they want about the future of anything. But realistically speaking, people are always going to need somebody to correct their vision and treat other diseases and disorders they may have. As such, I strongly believe that there will always be optometrists.

At the current rate, AOA research indicates that the supply of optometrists exceeds the demand (yet does not exceed a theoretical need). Who knows how long this will continue. If you look at past supply/demand trends for lots of professions you'll notice that they go in cycles. I don't think optometry is an exception, it is just a question of when the supply/demand ratio will even out.

There are many challenges that face the profession, but I don't think we should be viewing them from the point of view that optometry should be avoided (unless you want to intentionally scare people away). Rather, we should educate ourselves on the problems and devise ways to make smarter decisions once we graduate and even work together to correct some of the issues.

 

[Jay12]

Well said.....P.S. love the name LOL🙂

 

[eyestrain]

At the current rate, AOA research indicates that the supply of optometrists exceeds the demand (yet does not exceed a theoretical need). Who knows how long this will continue. If you look at past supply/demand trends for lots of professions you'll notice that they go in cycles. I don't think optometry is an exception, it is just a question of when the supply/demand ratio will even out.

The first problem here is that you listen to the AOA. The second problem is that there are a bunch of new schools opening, which will only worsen the oversupply problem. I'm not sure the "cycle" will ever swing the other way again.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

eyestrain,

I don't think there's a problem here at all. It's not that I'm listening to every word the AOA says (or even want to), I'm simply citing an actual organized study that addresses the issue of oversupply. I'm a scientist at heart and prefer to make conclusions based on actual experimental data. A lot of optometrists are so opinionated they love to take them off as fact, but that doesn't really do anybody any good. Besides, the data from that study favors the oversupply opinions--you should be encouraging me to listen to the AOA!

I agree with you that the new schools will worsen the supply problem. To what degree remains to be seen. Supply/demand ratios will always even out in the long run, but who knows how long that is...20-50 years maybe? Maybe not even in our lifetime.