abs1,
I was planning on going to optometry school begining this fall. But now I've decided against it. Instead I am applying to medical school. Here is something from an old post of mine about why I've decided to pursue medical school:
I had my eyes set on optometry at one point. I applied (and was accepted) to SUNY and Pacific University. Although I never worked with optometrists I spent many many hours with different doctors of optometry in several types of practices. In my opinion, here are the advantages of optometry as compared with medicine:
-- you often have more time for patient interaction as an O.D., none of this 5-minute in and out business.
-- it's a very cut and dried profession. Most of the time you go to work at 8 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m.
-- it's pretty clean. Some people want to be in the health field but just don't like the "icky stuff". Not much of that in optometry.
-- Rarely must you be the bearer of bad news (beyond the fact that you need a stronger prescription). Sure there are glaucoma cases and occassionaly O.D.'s will discover the presence of some neural disorder, but most of the time patients leave pretty happy.
-- It is possible to make a fair sum of money depending on the location and scope of practice. It is not unheard of to have O.D.'s making $150,000+ per year although $75,000 is more realistic.
-- The education of an O.D. is quite rigorous (four years beyonds a bacherlor's) and once your are finished with your four years (and pass the national boards) you can practice. There are residencies available if your want to specialize but it is not required. So the advantage over an M.D. degree here is a shorter (yet still thorough) education.
-- The field is changing and expanding. Beyond the standard "Is it better like this or is it better like this" O.D.'s now do lots of pre- and post-operative care for LASIK and PRK patients. In some states trained O.D.'s can perform some minor corrective "surgeries". O.D.'s treat medical eye disorders. However, there are some that say all this corrective surgery is cutting into O.D.'s income as sales of glasses and contact lenses go down but I have yet to see valid statistics showing this is the case.
But after all these good things (and I'm sure there are many more that I just can't remember at the moment) I decided not to pursue optometry but instead go into medicine. My reasons for doing this include:
-- the limited scope of practice. Although I find the eyes and vision quite fascinating, it's a narrow field. I think I want to do more and I may find other things out there that are even more interesting.
-- some O.D.'s express concern that they are not treated with the same respect as M.D.'s treat each other. Also, often the public misnderstands the roles of optometrists, opticians, and ophthalmologists in health care. I think this is similar to the concern some osteopathic physicians have about their field. This is more an education issue (I mean education of the public, not the doctor) and it's a shame that such a wonderful field as optometry has such a bad rap. Some blame it on the fact that optometrists are now found everywhere...Walmart, Target, and Sears. To me however, this shouldn't cheapen the profession but rather the profession should be praised for trying to broaden their practice to the everyday population. I know of many people that get uncomfortable immediately after they enter a clinic or medical building, but you can't say the same thing about walking into a Walmart (some people probably disagree with me about this, so I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter).
-- the job can be tedious if you are not into the clinical aspect of the profession. I spoke with some optometrists that only give glasses/contacts presecriptions. If they find any medical condition at all, they refer them. I wouldn't like to soley do vision checks all day but for others it's heaven.
-- the cost of the education is about the same as in medicine and I feel my "return on investment" would be worse going into optometry. This not because there is anything wrong with being an optometrist but after four years of medical school I'll still have some choice about what I want to do. After four years of optometry school, I'm stuck being an O.D.
-- the re-training aspect is worse for O.D.'s. I know of M.D.'s that were specialists in one area and after a few years they found they didn't like it, so they went back into a residency in a different field and changed specialties. Certainly this isn't common but it is possible. O.D.'s don't have that luxury. They're stuck treating vision problems.
If you can't tell, I've though a lot about this. I think I'm making the right decision, but I'm me and I'm sure others will (and do) find optometry to be a wonderfully fulfilling career that is an integral part of total health care.
I hope this helps you out, but don't let me make up your mind. Go talk with optometrists and physicians and see what fits with your lifestyle. By the way, I think you'll find optometrists much more open than M.D.'s into allowing you to watch them work...I think the deal is there are fewer privacy issues when dealing with vision problems then with typical medical problems...if an O.D. asks his/her patient to undress it is probably time to revoke a license or something more drastic. Cheers.
