Pro-optometry

[maxwellfish]

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With all these topics on the board like bothersome things, job outlook, and the like, we need some pro-optometry posts...
Like why it rocks.

Why despite some grim stats here and there, optometry will survive-get better even.

or how bout, what can we do as new-grads, students, and incoming students to fix some of the problems that face our profession.

or look at the progress we have made, what is next.


we are the 2nd eye docs---bullhonky, we are different eye docs, ones that specialize in the eyes, right?



Just trying to keep us looking up... it seems when people are pointing fingers, blah blah, that the opto board has such downer topics


lets go 😀

 

[Andrew_Doan]

I agree. Optometry's future is bright, and the job outlook is strong. Optometrists and ophthalmologists will provide an important role in fighting blindness and caring for millions of aging Americans.

 

[maxwellfish]

I agree. Optometry's future is bright, and the job outlook is strong. Optometrists and ophthalmologists will provide an important role in fighting blindness and caring for millions of aging Americans.

All major flaming aside, Dr Doan, how do you describe ophthalmology's view of optometry's role... just curious



thanks

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Cataract:
Diagnosis of cataracts. Educating patients that surgery is NOT necessary until they are symptomatic, i.e. worse than 20/40. Change spectacle prescription until cataract worsens to the point needing surgery. Refer patient to ophthalmology for surgery. Surgeon returns patient to optometry for final refraction.

Diabetic retinopathy:
Screen patients for diabetes and educate patients. I have patients who are followed by both the ophthalmologist and optometrist. The ophthalmologist can be consulted if treatment is needed. After the patient is stable, the patient can see the ophthalmologist on a yearly or PRN bases. The optometrist can follow the patient with dilated exams as often as needed.

Glaucoma:
Screen for disease. Treat glaucoma until drops do not work to slow vision loss. Consult with ophthalmology for surgery. After patient is stable, then patient can return to optometrist for follow-up.

ARMD:
Screen for disease. Educate about AREDS vitamins. Provide low vision services. Refer to ophthalmologist for treatment.

Without optometry, it'll be difficult to care for all the people requiring refractions and screening for major diseases.

 

[rpames]

This thread is a great idea. I agree, the future is bright. We continue to learn new procedure, just like ophthalmologist and optician. When my father graduated 32 years ago people were telling him the same thing we are hearing now..."the field is not going to last", "ophthalmologist are going to push ODs outs", blah blah blah.

Only time will tell.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

"We continue to learn new procedure, just like ophthalmologist and optician. When my father graduated 32 years ago people were telling him the same thing we are hearing now the field is not going to last", "ophthalmologist are going to push ODs outs", blah blah blah.

I highly doubt this. There are 40,000 optometrists and only 14,000 ophthalmologists in practice today. Optometry serves a major role in eye care and cannot be "pushed out". Regardless if optometrists learn new procedures or not, the current balance in scope of practice will assure that both the ophthalmologist and optometrist will be employed.

If the market is saturated with optometrists (I don't know); then perhaps optometry should cut back on the number of training positions. As it stands now, there are 1300 new optometry graduates compared to 450 ophthalmologists per year.

 

[rpames]

I don't believe ODs will be pushed out either, I'm just saying that is what people were telling him. It is also what I hear now.

I agree, we should cut the number of grads. My school is cutting the number slightly, I hope the other schools are as well.

 

[cpw]

UHCO cut about 5 seats, but I believe that was more due to lack of qualified applicants than cutting class sizes.

But, yes I do believe ODs and OMDs will eventually achieve a balance (all legislature aside). I see lots of it at the VA. Patients only get referred up to the OMDs if their cataracts are worse tha 20/60 (which is too high IMO, but it's the VA's policy).... I also had a patient yesterday with wet ARMD.. she went up to OMD.

I'm having a great time at the VA. I'm seeing more pathology than I ever thought I would. I haven't written normal on a chart yet !!

 

[maxwellfish]

I'm having a great time at the VA. I'm seeing more pathology than I ever thought I would. I haven't written normal on a chart yet !!

cpw-that sounds awesome. Maybe when you can spare a second, you could post some new threads on your clinical adventures at the VA.

I notices there are several pre-optometry students and some that are not sure, I bet those posts would be interesting.

just a thought, thanks

 

[mdkurt]

The job market thing is wierd. Ophthalmology residency positions have been pared down over the past decade, and I'm not sure why. With aging baby boomers, all of us are going to be working. The graduating optometrists I know are all entertaining 1-3 offers, some in pretty desirable areas.

 

[r_salis]

The job market thing is wierd. Ophthalmology residency positions have been pared down over the past decade, and I'm not sure why. With aging baby boomers, all of us are going to be working. The graduating optometrists I know are all entertaining 1-3 offers, some in pretty desirable areas.

Mind if I ask where?

 

[theoptometrist]

If you're optometry.....do us a favor and stay the hell out of WalMarts and their ilk. The reason these places exist is because optometrists can't find a job, are lazy, WalMarts don't give you a boss. Find a private OD office that can help you learn and keep and enhance your skills. Commercial locations are sucking our profession in and do nothing for the politics or experience of the practioner.

Sorry to be so negative....I think you know what I mean though.

 

[xmattODx]

If you're optometry.....do us a favor and stay the hell out of WalMarts and their ilk. The reason these places exist is because optometrists can't find a job, are lazy, WalMarts don't give you a boss. Find a private OD office that can help you learn and keep and enhance your skills. Commercial locations are sucking our profession in and do nothing for the politics or experience of the practioner.

I take great offence to your ignorant, and unconstructive comments. You have not experienced optometry in every corner of this country. You do not know what it is like to look for a job for TWO years. You do not know what it is like to work in commercial practices, in private practices, and in academic institutions all within the same week. You have not driven for two hours one way just to make some money practicing optometry. You do not know what it is like to be lied to by private practitioners, to have three interviews at one practice and then told 'I don't really have a job available I was just seeing what type of people were available.' You have not recieved the paycheck that is less than what my mechanic makes. I'm on my way to Wal-mart in a couple of hours. While there I will see 10-12 patients most of whom are desperetly poor, most are unemployed. A $49 eye exam is the only exam they can afford. While there I will do as good a job or better than the private practitioners in the area. I will look at binocularity issues which very few private ODs do. I will insist on dilation on most patients which private ODs don't.

Just because a practice has no commercial entity attached to it it isn't automatically better.

I'm not saying commercial optometry is great but it is a job for those of us who live in saturated areas. Don't put down those kids who will start their career in a commercial setting.

If you're going to be anti-Wal-Mart optometry you better be against Wal-Mart as a whole. I'm tired of hypocrytical ODs who are so dead set against Wal-Mart optometry but buy all of their goods at Wal-Mart. Wal-mart is destroying much more than optometry but its paying my bills.

Your local lazy OD,
Matt Pearce

 

[cpw]

Thanks for your comments Matt 🙂 I agree not all Wal-Mart docs are in it cuz they're lazy. I have a friend who graduated saluditorian from her class at SCCO, took a job working only two days a week for a private OD and couldn't pay the 160K she had in student loans on what she was making. So, when a friend offered her a full-time slot at a Wal-Mart she jumped at it. Now, she's paid off enough of her loans to open up her own office with another OD.

I see Wal-Mart as something I would do if I had to. It's not my first choice, but once the loans kick in... you'll do what you have to.

 

[theoptometrist]

Matt,

Don't lie to me. You see patients that buy crap at WalMart and then go home to watch cable/satellite tv. They may have less income and you're so proud to be their savior but don't give me the bleeding heart crap.

I drove 2 hours one way to work in a WalMart for a year 3x/week. I know what I'm talking about. I tried to buy 2 practices but optometry isn't really profitable except for the owner OD and buying a practice that's a Chevrolet for a Cadillac price is like going to optometry school and then working at WalMart......it's not really reality and then it is reality. Everyone else is bitching about their poor salary and working on Saturdays and Sundays and I've decided that's because people don't get off their asses and make it for themselves. They want someone else to provide it on a platter and then they think they're doing everyone a favor.

Go start your own practice and get off your ass.

You think dilating everyone is special? You think binocularity testing is really something special in your office? It's your way of saying you offer something that many other docs aren't doing. And all you really have is a piece of crap contract with WalMart and a door to lock when you leave. I'm sorry you're so proud of your situation.

You're in a bind and you're taking the easy way out. Don't feed me ANY more bullcrap.

 

[aphistis]

Matt,

Don't lie to me. You see patients that buy crap at WalMart and then go home to watch cable/satellite tv. They may have less income and you're so proud to be their savior but don't give me the bleeding heart crap.

I drove 2 hours one way to work in a WalMart for a year 3x/week. I know what I'm talking about. I tried to buy 2 practices but optometry isn't really profitable except for the owner OD and buying a practice that's a Chevrolet for a Cadillac price is like going to optometry school and then working at WalMart......it's not really reality and then it is reality. Everyone else is bitching about their poor salary and working on Saturdays and Sundays and I've decided that's because people don't get off their asses and make it for themselves. They want someone else to provide it on a platter and then they think they're doing everyone a favor.

Go start your own practice and get off your ass.

You think dilating everyone is special? You think binocularity testing is really something special in your office? It's your way of saying you offer something that many other docs aren't doing. And all you really have is a piece of crap contract with WalMart and a door to lock when you leave. I'm sorry you're so proud of your situation.

You're in a bind and you're taking the easy way out. Don't feed me ANY more bullcrap.

Hmm.

Anyone else starting to wonder whether RC has finally respawned himself?

 

[cpw]

not unless he changed IPs on me 😡

 

[mdkurt]

Mind if I ask where?

One got a job in Manhattan, the other had 2 offers, one in central PA and one in Scranton. I have also known a couple students that got jobs in chain dept stores in Delaware and New Jersey. These are PCO grads and in my opinion very good students.

There's no shame in working in a dept store. They pay well, and only astute clinicians can find the pathology that's lurking in a "routine" setting. It's there, but only the good docs catch it.

 

[xmattODx]

Matt,

Don't lie to me. You see patients that buy crap at WalMart and then go home to watch cable/satellite tv. They may have less income and you're so proud to be their savior but don't give me the bleeding heart crap.

[...]Go start your own practice and get off your ass.

You think dilating everyone is special? You think binocularity testing is really something special in your office? It's your way of saying you offer something that many other docs aren't doing. And all you really have is a piece of crap contract with WalMart and a door to lock when you leave. I'm sorry you're so proud of your situation.

You're in a bind and you're taking the easy way out. Don't feed me ANY more bullcrap.

1) I don't lease the practice: I'm an independent contractor.
2) If I get off my ass and open a practice I'll be bankrupt in 2 years. Too many ODs here and I don't want to live in the country.
3) My point in posting was to try to let students know that there is nothing wrong with working in Wal-Mart, Lenscrafters, Binyon's, etc. It should be no one persons goal but if life leads you to need to work commercial do it and offer your best to the patients.
4) I am not proud to work at Wal-Mart. I detest Wal-Mart as a corporation and for what it forces ODs to do, but you have to do what you have to do.
5) If you have read any of my other posts you would know that I think the leadership of optometry has killed the profession. I am not all that happy with our direction. I think optometry is a great profession but we are killing ourselves.
6) Good luck in private practice instead of whoring yourself to Wal-mart, you'll ***** yourself to VSP.

To restate my point. No matter where you end up working be proud enough of your training and knowledge to provide complete care to your patients.

One last note: I am a bleeding heart, through and through. Its the only thing that gets me through the day and I take it as a compliment.

 

[r_salis]

One got a job in Manhattan, the other had 2 offers, one in central PA and one in Scranton. I have also known a couple students that got jobs in chain dept stores in Delaware and New Jersey. These are PCO grads and in my opinion very good students.

Cool -- east coasters! (...same general areas where I'd like to practice. 😉 )

 

[J.opt]

Here?s an email an OD sent me a few years ago when I first was interested in optometry. After readig this email I started to seriously think about optometry as a career for me.
It has an encoding error, so try to read over the weird signs.
It compares OD vs. OMD but I don?t want to start another OD vs OMD thread. If anyone from the ophtalmology forum is ofended, you can complain on any of the many old bashing threads we already have.
-J.opt


"Topic.............................Optometry...................Ophthalmology
Years in school.....................8.................................12+
Less school costs..................+
Which is harder?....................+.................................+
Prestige..................................................................+
Pay.....................................+.................................+
Less headaches.....................+
Less stress...........................+
Less insurance......................+
Smaller staff.........................+
More efficient.......................+
Less liability..........................+
Interesting first 5 years..........+..................................+
Interesting next 15 years........+..................................+
Less on-call..........................+


Here’s an explanation:

NOTE: OMD is short for ophthalmologist.

OMDs typically spend a lot of time in school. They have medical school with
residencies and fellowships to follow. In optometry school, residencies are
optional, although they may not be for long (there’s been rumors about making
this mandatory).

Optometry school is typically less expensive--especially when you consider that
it usually ends at 4 years. It can be quite inexpensive if you pick your school
wisely. Think public!

As far as the difficulty between optometry and medical school, I think it’s a
toss up. I’ve heard both sides. Optometry school requires you to learn the
whole body AND specialize in just four years. Medical school is medical school
in four years then you specialize later. It’s tough.

OMDs clearly have more prestige, which is why they tend to be quite arrogant.
According to the medical profession, optometrists are just glorified opticians.
And frankly, many are, but we’ve come a long ways. Many are just as good as
OMDs at medical diagnosis, and clearly we are light-years ahead of the OMDs when
it comes to refraction, optical goods, and contact lenses. However, when it
comes to public perception, the medical profession wins, well mostly. Some large
optometric practices who practice in pretty buildings and sometimes hire OMDs on
their staff carry a lot of weight in the community. But then we have the
commercial optometrists who clearly make us look bad. Not that they are poor
doctors--quite on the contrary. Many are very good. But really, you can be the
best doctor on earth but when you work at Wal-Mart how much respect are you
going to get?

How about pay? Are you shocked to learn that OMDs are some of the poorest paid
medical professionals? If you want to be a medical doctor—become a
radiologist. They are at the top.

How’s this for another shocker: You can make far more than an OMD! Why?
Because you have an optical. Many OMDs don’t. But they are wising up! They are
finding that it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet with tightening
insurance reimbursements so they are looking for new avenues for revenue. In
the meantime, beat them to the bank. Opticals typically represent 30% or more of
an optometrist’s income.

Don’t believe the stats you see when it comes to optometric salaries and
income. Sure they reflect a typical starting salary but really the sky is the
limit in later years. Many optometric practices bring in more than $1 million.
Knowing that the typical profit margin is around 30-40%, that means you can make
$300-$400,000+. Note the plus on the end. And believe me, this does not
necessarily mean more work. It just means being a little smarter (think
efficiency), good with people, business savvy, and a little lucky. But you know,
$100,000 isn’t bad either.

Optometry means less headaches and less stress. You typically have a smaller
staff so you have less staff issues, you have less insurance to deal with
(although optometrists are becoming more and more dependent on lousy insurance),
and you typically don’t have the horrible medical conditions that you have to
deal with on a daily basis. Optometrists usually farm the tough cases out to the
OMDs, so that means they have to take all the responsibility. Not that
optometrists don’t have their share of cases. You can be as gung-ho as you
want to treating those globe penetrating, central corneal ulcers, but why do it?
The medical stuff doesn’t pay anyway. Your bread and butter is what happens
after the refraction.

Less responsibility also means less liability and less liability insurance.
Although, because of our expanding medical reach (our illustrious associations
hammer the legislators to get us more and more things to prescribe), our
insurance coverage has increased considerably in the last few years. Now we have
to carry in excess of $1,000,000 and often as high as $4,000,000.

Think you will burn out on the profession after awhile? I bet you are thinking,
how many refractions can I do on 20/20 kids before I get burned out? Well, the
way I see it, a profession is only as boring as you make it. If you are only in
it for the money, then yes, you will get burned out. If you are in it to help
people, then I think you will have a satisfying career for many years to come.
You know, even what seems to be a “normal” person can have many interesting
challenges. Maybe his glasses prescription was wrong and it’s your job to
improve on it, maybe his contacts weren’t correcting his vision well and you
discovered he would be better off in torics (to correct astigmatism), maybe the
reason for him having trouble reading clearly is dry eyes, maybe the reason he
can’t see well at night is because you discovered retinitis pigmentosa, maybe
that small head tilt is due to an undiscovered vertical misalignment, maybe he
is a perfect candidate for LASIK, maybe he is perfectly normal, with no
abnormalities whatsoever, and he doesn’t need glasses or contacts, but he came
in grumpy, and in the end, you made his day. In fact, he is so enthralled at
your great job, he refers all of his family and friends to you. As you can see,
there are many things you can do for your patients. And to think this is only a
very small list. Optometry is what you make it. Rarely is there a perfect
person. There is always something you can do.

continued next...

 

[J.opt]

As far as what profession would be more interesting, I think it’s a toss up.
OMDs are more medically-oriented and they do surgery. They are found in private
practice, working for other ophthalmologists, in hospitals, in the military,
overseas, working for drug companies, etc. They have their subspecialties,
although most are simply parts of the eye: corneal specialist, retinal
specialist, etc. (there may be other subspecialties that I don’t know about).
So if you went this route, you probably better like the medical aspects of the
eye business.

Optometry is similar. We are found in private practice, in hospitals, working
for OMDs or optometrists, in the military, overseas, working for drug companies,
and commercial ventures like Wal-Mart, Target, Pearl Vision, etc. We have our
specialties like low vision, vision therapy, etc. So if you don’t like what
you are doing now as a private practice doctor, there’s no reason why you
can’t switch. So don’t get stuck in a rut—expand your horizons. Again,
optometry is only as interesting as you make it.

As I said before, optometrists have opticals, so optometry is half-medical and
half-retail. If you are interested in flexing your business muscles, but like
the medical aspects, optometry is probably the thing for you.

OMDs are on-call which means if there is a medical problem they must be ready to
address that problem whether it be 2 PM or 2 AM. And considering how many
patients they see for just medical problems (which is all of them), you can
imagine your chances for escaping those midnight calls.

Optometrists are also on-call. However, we typically don’t see the rough
cases. And what sight-threatening problems we do see, like corneal ulcers, are
typically handled quite well with the strong, broad-spectrum antibiotics we have
nowadays. It’s a very rare patient who has a corneal ulcer that doesn’t
respond to treatment. And you know what you do with those patients who are
having problems? Ship them out! Give Dr. Jones, OMD that 2 AM call.

With all that said, there are a lot of ophthalmologists who say that their
profession is not the one to go into. I can see why. Who wants to go through all
that schooling in order to get that prestigious M.D. next to your name only to
find out that the profession really wasn’t as great as you thought it was? And
to think Dr. Williams, O.D. with that nice office down the street is making more
than you and his life is so much less complicated.

As if all that wasn’t enough, let me tell you why I became an optometrist. I
originally studied to be an electrical engineer. Frankly, I thought I was born
to be an engineer, being a math wiz and quite technically oriented. So I got a
masters degree and got a job at IBM. I worked one day and then started planning
my new career! I hated it! Stuck in a room with a bunch of computers is not my
idea of fun (huh, then why do I spend my free time now sitting in front of a
computer?). Mostly, I could not take the corporate world. I did not like having
a huge chain of command over my head, telling me what schedule I should have
that was 1/7th of my original estimate. Then you get yelled at for months until
it ends up you are at your original plan. And to think you get all this abuse
and you don’t make half of what you should (optometrists make FAR more than
engineers—you know what they say? OWN A BUSINESS), and then they can you
after 15 years because they think you are making too much. So with all that
pressure that you take home with you for months on end, projects that go on
forever (you’ve made us something—now make it better), no job security, and
all that abuse—why would anyone in their right mind want to be an engineer?
Granted there are many variations, but most are still computer-related, and most
are corporate.

So I decided that I needed a profession that allows me to be the boss and I
thought the medical profession would allow me to do that successfully (how many
doctors do you see go out of business?). I needed something that allowed me to
help people directly (instead of though many hands like a computer—who are you
really helping?), something where the projects actually end at some point, like
a patient who may see you a few times until next year, pays well, allows some
flexibility in hours (if you have your own business you can do whatever you
want), and isn’t too disgusting like dentistry. So I had podiatry, veterinary
medicine, medicine, chiropractic, and optometry. I didn’t like the idea of
working on feet, animals, sick people, or normal, healthy people (that’s a
joke for you chiropractors). Thus, I was left with optometry—not that it was
my last alternative. Rather it was the best of the medical world. I could have
been a podiatrist, vet, or M.D. (no chiropracty for me thanks), but I found
optometry to be the cream of the crop.

I worked at IBM for five years, took a bunch of optometry preregs at night, and
entered the University of Houston. Four years later, I started working as a
temp. It was great because I learned a great deal about different practices. You
really get to see what works and what doesn’t (more than often what
doesn’t—which actually gave me lots of incentive to do better because most
practice management ideas are not hard, it’s just that most doctors don’t do
them). It’s a good idea to do what I did because you will never know what goes
on at another doctor’s practice.

After that I went to Wal-Mart and worked there for a year. I did great but the
management at Wal-Mart is horrible. You just never know who the next manager is
going to be since they shift locations often. And your optical staff is under a
different chain of command. So if you don’t like someone, you think someone is
lazy, well too bad. You’re stuck with them! Sure it pays well, initially
anyway, but your ceiling will be reached quickly, you’re under the scrutiny of
some idiot who may not like you, you don’t get an optical (or contacts!), they
like you to be a Wal-Mart associate which you are clearly not, and they can get
rid of you very easily. Forget the commercial route, it’s not worth it. (If
you want to know more about commercial vs. private I can dig up some past
postings on this subject).

So here I am in my third year out of optometry school, and now I’m on the
verge of obtaining a practice of my own. Right now, I’m working as an employee
which will last for a year then I’m the boss. I have easy hours, I make great
money, and I’ve never enjoyed life better. And gee, it gets topped off by
getting to fire people! Private practice is the way to go!

Well, I’m sure I’ve left a lot out, so if you have any questions, don’t
hesitate to ask!

X OD"

 

[JR]

It seems like you have way too much time on your hands. Your post took up almost 2 windows; that has got to be some kind of record 🙂 . Mine won't be as long, I promise. I am glad you found your "cream of the crop" speciality; mine, on the other hand, is a wonderful field of ophthalmology. Having said that, let me respectfully disagree with some of your points.

1. "As far as the difficulty between optometry and medical school, I think it’s atoss up."

I think you pretty much contradicted yourself here. Just look at the top line of your comparison: 12+ years vs. 8; that has to be a no-brainer.

2. "OMDs clearly have more prestige, which is why they tend to be quite arrogant."

This is true of both specialities; I have met pretty arrogant optos, especially ones who think that they can all of the sudden wake up one morning and start performing eye surgery (which they have never been trained for).

3. "Are you shocked to learn that OMDs are some of the poorest paid
medical professionals? If you want to be a medical doctor—become a
radiologist. They are at the top."

This is where you completely loose credibility (with M.D.s anyway). Ophthalmology remains one of the highly paid specialities (why do you think it is so competative?). It is certainly more competative than Radiology (although rads is catching up fast).

4. "Optometry means less headaches and less stress. You typically have a smaller staff so you have less staff issues, you have less insurance to deal with(although optometrists are becoming more and more dependent on lousy insurance),and you typically don’t have the horrible medical conditions that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Optometrists usually farm the tough cases out to the OMDs, so that means they have to take all the responsibility."

This is true. We do get the tough/surgical/medical cases. We do spend more time in training. We do learn how to deal with hypertation, diabetis and cancer before we spent just as much time as you guys learning the eye and its pathology. Do you now see why some OMDs may seem more "arrogant"?

5. "As far as what profession would be more interesting, I think it’s a toss up. OMDs are more medically-oriented and they do surgery. They are found in private practice, working for other ophthalmologists, in hospitals, in the military, overseas, working for drug companies, etc. They have their subspecialties, although most are simply parts of the eye: corneal specialist, retinal specialist, etc. (there may be other subspecialties that I don’t know about). So if you went this route, you probably better like the medical aspects of the eye business."

So how's this a toss up again? From your explanation you pretty much support the OMD side of the argument 🙄 .

6. "Optometrists are also on-call. However, we typically don’t see the rough cases. And what sight-threatening problems we do see, like corneal ulcers, are typically handled quite well with the strong, broad-spectrum antibiotics we have nowadays. It’s a very rare patient who has a corneal ulcer that doesn’t respond to treatment. And you know what you do with those patients who are having problems? Ship them out! Give Dr. Jones, OMD that 2 AM call."

I love this post. This comes from an eye gate-keeper who markets himself as the "caring eye professional" (see your other posts). So, tough corneal ulcers are OK to "ship out"? What about that corneal ulcer your patient will get after LASIK? Are you going to ship'em out too? You clearly deserve surgical privilages 👎 .

7. "With all that said, there are a lot of ophthalmologists who say that their
profession is not the one to go into."

I wish you could give me some names. On the other hand, I do know plenty of optos who wish they went the "other route".

8. "I could have been a podiatrist, vet, or M.D. (no chiropracty for me thanks), but I found optometry to be the cream of the crop."

Would you care to explain the "no chiropracty for me thanks". I fail to see your point here. Are you saying US medical schools graduate chiropractors???

Overall, your post sounds like a optometry school commercial. Do you work for an optometry school or have you just opened up one?

"I have easy hours, I make great money, and I’ve never enjoyed life better. And gee, it gets topped off by getting to fire people! Private practice is the way to go!"

You should be providing a website address right about now where I can get more information for a nominal fee .

Good day, sir

 

[mdkurt]

J. opt, I think your post outlined many of the positives about optometry versus ophtho very well. Of course, I would take issue about the relative difficulty of the schooling for the two disciplines, but I think optometry as it stands is a great field for many of the reasons you point out. Most opto students I come in contact with agree that they don't want to mess up a good thing by expanding outside the current role of the optometrist. As for the arrogance of the MD, I was arrogant all the way back in kindergarten so I don't think I can blame med school.

 

[J.opt]

Thanks for the replyes, but I think it?s worth noting that I didn?t write that post, I just cut and pasted it from an email I got from an OD (see first couples of lines of my post 😉 )

 

[JR]

Thanks for editing your post. I did not realize these were not your original thoughts. And I was not trying to start another OD vs. OMD flame war, just wanted to point out incorrect info in the above text. Enjoy the rest of your optometry training 😀

 

[cpw]

thanks for not degrading to name bashing guys.. 😀 JOpt's post did bring up some great advantages and disadvatages to being an optometrist... I just kinda question some of the wording! 😉 (which I know he didn't write)

 

[J.opt]

... I just kinda question some of the wording! 😉

Well, you have to understand, the guy went to UHCO 😱

Just kidding 😀

 

[vanelo]

It seems like you have way too much time on your hands. Your post took up almost 2 windows; that has got to be some kind of record 🙂 . Mine won't be as long, I promise. I am glad you found your "cream of the crop" speciality; mine, on the other hand, is a wonderful field of ophthalmology. Having said that, let me respectfully disagree with some of your points.

1. "As far as the difficulty between optometry and medical school, I think it’s atoss up."

I think you pretty much contradicted yourself here. Just look at the top line of your comparison: 12+ years vs. 8; that has to be a no-brainer.

2. "OMDs clearly have more prestige, which is why they tend to be quite arrogant."

This is true of both specialities; I have met pretty arrogant optos, especially ones who think that they can all of the sudden wake up one morning and start performing eye surgery (which they have never been trained for).

3. "Are you shocked to learn that OMDs are some of the poorest paid
medical professionals? If you want to be a medical doctor—become a
radiologist. They are at the top."

This is where you completely loose credibility (with M.D.s anyway). Ophthalmology remains one of the highly paid specialities (why do you think it is so competative?). It is certainly more competative than Radiology (although rads is catching up fast).

4. "Optometry means less headaches and less stress. You typically have a smaller staff so you have less staff issues, you have less insurance to deal with(although optometrists are becoming more and more dependent on lousy insurance),and you typically don’t have the horrible medical conditions that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Optometrists usually farm the tough cases out to the OMDs, so that means they have to take all the responsibility."

This is true. We do get the tough/surgical/medical cases. We do spend more time in training. We do learn how to deal with hypertation, diabetis and cancer before we spent just as much time as you guys learning the eye and its pathology. Do you now see why some OMDs may seem more "arrogant"?

5. "As far as what profession would be more interesting, I think it’s a toss up. OMDs are more medically-oriented and they do surgery. They are found in private practice, working for other ophthalmologists, in hospitals, in the military, overseas, working for drug companies, etc. They have their subspecialties, although most are simply parts of the eye: corneal specialist, retinal specialist, etc. (there may be other subspecialties that I don’t know about). So if you went this route, you probably better like the medical aspects of the eye business."

So how's this a toss up again? From your explanation you pretty much support the OMD side of the argument 🙄 .

6. "Optometrists are also on-call. However, we typically don’t see the rough cases. And what sight-threatening problems we do see, like corneal ulcers, are typically handled quite well with the strong, broad-spectrum antibiotics we have nowadays. It’s a very rare patient who has a corneal ulcer that doesn’t respond to treatment. And you know what you do with those patients who are having problems? Ship them out! Give Dr. Jones, OMD that 2 AM call."

I love this post. This comes from an eye gate-keeper who markets himself as the "caring eye professional" (see your other posts). So, tough corneal ulcers are OK to "ship out"? What about that corneal ulcer your patient will get after LASIK? Are you going to ship'em out too? You clearly deserve surgical privilages 👎 .

7. "With all that said, there are a lot of ophthalmologists who say that their
profession is not the one to go into."

I wish you could give me some names. On the other hand, I do know plenty of optos who wish they went the "other route".

8. "I could have been a podiatrist, vet, or M.D. (no chiropracty for me thanks), but I found optometry to be the cream of the crop."

Would you care to explain the "no chiropracty for me thanks". I fail to see your point here. Are you saying US medical schools graduate chiropractors???

Overall, your post sounds like a optometry school commercial. Do you work for an optometry school or have you just opened up one?

"I have easy hours, I make great money, and I’ve never enjoyed life better. And gee, it gets topped off by getting to fire people! Private practice is the way to go!"

You should be providing a website address right about now where I can get more information for a nominal fee .

Good day, sir

Way to go!!!

What was that guy thinking? Comparing OMD's with OD's???? Unreal....

 

[maxwellfish]

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/08/04/ed.col.morey.0804.html

just a nice article...

 

[maxwellfish]

http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/healthcast/DBM658/

Check that one out...


I like how it is an optometrist that has the knowledge and training to notice a problem and refer appropriately, BUT it is an ophthalmologist giving all the eye care advice and commentary 🙄 ...

any thoughts?