No one told me that....

[KHE]

Okay so I guess I didn't mean "oversupply," but I know some folks on this forum have commented that it's difficult to get a job which simply isn't true.

It is very EASY to get a "job" in optometry. This is why I am always telling people that you will never starve, eat out of a dumpster or default on your student loans as an OD. However, I imagine most of you are looking for something more than a "job." And it is that something more that is what is very difficult to find.

I'm not worried as of yet about this oversupply. Do I disagree that schools should start to limit the entering class number? Absolutely not. Do I sit here and wonder sometimes how some people were accepted to my school? Absolutely! The thing is I have no control over such things, and I can't worry about issues like that. I chose the career because I wanted it. I think its great that patients can get appointments when they want them...that's good accessibility for ya.

Good accessibility? That's wonderful from the patients perspective but what about the professionals? Name me any other health profession that you can get a non-emergent same day appointment? Hell....I can't even get a same day appointment with my mechanic for a non emergent matter. Ever for an EMERGENT problem, I can hardly ever get one.

The question is are optometrist's salaries being driven down by this oversupply? I was told today during a lecture at my school that salaries are rising, more so than other health professions. Survey results were presented indicating that grads were happy with their standard of living and with their salary. It sounds good to me.

Salaries may be rising for private practice owners, but they are not rising for associates or employed doctors and this is a direct result of oversupply. In fact, I will say that I made LESS money working as an associate doctor in my 6th year out of school than I did my first year. This has held true for countless numbers of my classmates and cohorts.

Oh, and btw, one of the private optometrists I shadowed works Monday thru Thursday morning and afternoon and she is doing quite well. No evening hours, no Fridays, and no weekends. So it exists. I can't say this about other medical areas, but I can usually get a PCP appointment within a day or two, and I don't think that's abnormal.

That's good for your OD and I'm sure she's happy. No one is saying that desireable situations don't exist but they are becoming more and more scarce and flooding the marketplace with more and more desperate, new ODs isn't going to help the situation. I guess now that I own a practice I'll be able to hire top notch new graduates for low salaries but cmon....I don't really want to do that and I KNOW that you guys don't want it.

Regarding your PCP....I can always get an appointment with my PCP same day, or at least within a day or two if I"m sick or injured. However, if I phone up and ask for a routine exam....its months. However, in optometry....routine exams are "walk-ins welcome" left, right and center. That is not good, and adding more schools isn't going to help that.

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[IndianaOD]

I'm so friggin' sick of posts like this. Unless you have worked as both an optometrist AND a dentist, shut the hell up.

Indeed. People always overestimate the markup on glasses. I'd much rather charge $1200 for a crown or whatever is the going rate than spend 30 minutes on a binocular vision exam and get reimbursed $45.

The proof is in the pudding. Even though I love being an OD, I've told many students to become dentists.


Oh and students....from one professional to the other.....don't sell out to commercial. They are driving down both our professionalism and our exam fees. I survived on a residents salary for a year with a family. YOU can survive on a lower private prac. salary at first.

For example. A recent employer switched to Spectera (possibly the worst out there). If no one was a provider in the area they could not use it. The only place in over 20 miles that takes it....yup wal-mart! Unbelievable.

Oh and a year before graduating I thought I found an underserved area. Within 1 year, three optometry practrices moved in.

 

[still_confused]

However, if I phone up and ask for a routine exam....its months.

wow where do you live? i live in socal and there my family has yearly exams and its always within 3 days (unless holidays) or less. months??? you guys need more doctors!!

 

[still_confused]

so it okay for optometrists to generalize about dentistry and think they have it easy but they cant do the same to us?

i doubt any of you guys are dentist AND optometrist so follow your own advice.

 

[IndianaOD]

so it okay for optometrists to generalize about dentistry and think they have it easy but they cant do the same to us?

i doubt any of you guys are dentist AND optometrist so follow your own advice.

Awe come on. A decent dental exam goes for over $250. You can get an eye exam at walmart for $29.

Heh, they are both good professions. It just APPEARS to me that dentristy has done a much better job keeping itself healthy. Not to mention they don't have a group of Ophthalmologists trying to deface the profession 24/7.

I need to fertilize my grass to make in greener!

 

[Daurang]

What universe do you live in IndianaOD..."A decent dental exam goes for over $250"? In many parts of Cali you can get dental exam for free or exam/bitewings/prophy for $20. Just because you got ripped off by your dentist for a $250 exam doesn't mean other people are naive enough to pay that price.

 

[eyestrain]

so it okay for optometrists to generalize about dentistry and think they have it easy but they cant do the same to us?

i doubt any of you guys are dentist AND optometrist so follow your own advice.

I knew that I should have clarified my post. I meant it to go both ways.

 

[IndianaOD]

What universe do you live in IndianaOD..."A decent dental exam goes for over $250"? In many parts of Cali you can get dental exam for free or exam/bitewings/prophy for $20. Just because you got ripped off by your dentist for a $250 exam doesn't mean other people are naive enough to pay that price.

I didn't pay that price. I had dental insurance. That was one quote we got if we went out of network for a new patient exam.

I have never seen a free dental exam in this area. One reason I respect dentists. They won't stoop as low as many ODs working in commercial mills.

 

[still_confused]

I didn't pay that price. I had dental insurance. That was one quote we got if we went out of network for a new patient exam.

for that price, my dentist will fill my cavities with gold

 

[longlashes]

..

 

[IndianaOD]

Ok, ok. I'll just stick with they get the same length of education and make on average 50-100% than ODs. I love being an OD, but gotta admit I'm jealous of those dentists at times.

 

[IndianaOD]

On another note, it appears that over on www.odwire.org they are sending letters in oppositon to a new OD school. Definitely worth 5 minutes to send something off.

 

[Daurang]

We dentists really really really work so much harder than you on the average. I know dentists that don't have many patients so they don't do much like you so they earn only as much as you and deservingly so. I know dentist that sees 30 patients a day so they earn much more than you and me and so that's life.

 

[KHE]

We dentists really really really work so much harder than you on the average. I know dentists that don't have many patients so they don't do much like you so they earn only as much as you and deservingly so. I know dentist that sees 30 patients a day so they earn much more than you and me and so that's life.

This posting and the others on this thread make so little sense.

Why don't we all just admit that neither side has really all that much clue what the other group does on a day to day basis or how "hard" the other group works?

And please....let's not start with all the stories about how "My cousins friend is a dentist and he blah blah blah blah blah" or "My college roomate has a friend who's brother is an OD and he blah blah blah blah blah."

Unless you've lived both professions, you can't make any where NEAR an educated enough guess as to what goes on on the other side of the fence.

 

[IndianaOD]

We dentists really really really work so much harder than you on the average. I know dentists that don't have many patients so they don't do much like you so they earn only as much as you and deservingly so. I know dentist that sees 30 patients a day so they earn much more than you and me and so that's life.

I'm not sure I even know what you are trying to say. How do you how hard I work? I could unload on such a ridiculous post, but I will not. It won't help anything.

This sounds like a med-student in arrogance.


Back to the topic.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

This posting and the others on this thread make so little sense.

Why don't we all just admit that neither side has really all that much clue what the other group does on a day to day basis or how "hard" the other group works?

And please....let's not start with all the stories about how "My cousins friend is a dentist and he blah blah blah blah blah" or "My college roomate has a friend who's brother is an OD and he blah blah blah blah blah."

Unless you've lived both professions, you can't make any where NEAR an educated enough guess as to what goes on on the other side of the fence.

I was under the impression that dentists do so well for themselves because they are very procedure oriented.

I suppose that could mean they work harder.... but I doubt it.

 

[broadway]

Dentists can work on one pt. for 2-3 hrs and get $2000. Depending on the procedure and location.

 

[still_confused]

Dentists can work on one pt. for 2-3 hrs and get $2000. Depending on the procedure and location.

and?