Opticianry is an important healthcare profession whose main focus is vision care services to individuals. Opticians, being health care providers, are dedicated to providing eye care services, thus playing a crucial role in improving and maintaining their patient’s vision. This career paper delves into the opticianry profession, exploring and shedding some light on the job description and the services opticians provide to their patients, the limits of authority, responsibility and legislated scope of practice for persons in this career path. It also explores some codes of ethics associated with the field of opticianry that bind and guide people in the profession. Moreover, in the paper, I reflect on reasons why I see myself fit for this profession based on my attributes and influences. Furthermore, I will share some experiences that brought me to want to pursue this profession as well as my career path. Finally, I will share my personal career plan related to the field of opticianry.
Job description
Opticians play a crucial role in dispensing vision care and eyewear-related services. Their primary function is helping patients maintain and achieve the best vision correction. Since they aren’t medical doctors or doctors of osteopathy, they don’t diagnose or treat issues affecting eyes and vision; instead, they receive special training to help ophthalmologists and optometrists before or after an eye exam (Goodwin University, 2018). Their services start from the pre-examination period to the post-examination period. The key aspects of interest or the primary responsibilities to note when describing an optician’s work are explained below.
An optician is responsible for conducting or facilitating some vision assessments, tests and consultations. Healthcare workers in the opticianry field work closely with optometrists and ophthalmologists to assess the visual needs of their patients. Although opticians do not necessarily conduct all the diagnostic services, they provide technical assistance to optometrists and ophthalmologists, ensuring that comprehensive eye exams are performed on patients. They also offer technical assistance in the conduction of the different visual tests to determine the patient’s visual acuity, depth perception, and peripheral and color vision. Moreover, they offer consultation services where they sometimes discuss the patient’s visual preference and lifestyle to come up with the most suitable eyewear solution for them.
Besides offering technical assistance in the conduction of visual assessment tests, opticians also play a crucial role in obtaining and interpreting prescriptions (Goodwin University, 2018). Opticians have a significant role to play in filling and interpreting the prescriptions made by licensed ophthalmologists or optometrists regarding the patient’s condition. However, they still need to be authorized to make formal diagnoses or prescriptions, as that is the work of ophthalmologists and optometrists (Goodwin University, 2018). Instead, their role is to ensure that lenses prescribed to a patient meet the precise specifications necessary for the correction of refractive errors, astigmatism, strabismus, myopia, narrow angles or any other visual condition a patient is diagnosed with. Moreover, they also ensure that the prescription information is correctly transcribed for the fabrication of eyeglasses, frames or contact lenses.
Moreover, opticians have a big role to play in guiding frame selection and adjustments for their patients. They do this by showing their patients the available frame options and explaining to them the ones suited for them based on their visual needs, lifestyle, lens material and coating (Goodwin University, 2018). After that, they guide them in selecting the frames the patient considers comfortable, stylish or suited for the patient’s style. In addition to this, opticians also take measurements of the patient or customer’s eyes, face, the distance between their pupils, and other minor optical details to ensure a comfortable and proper lens and frames fit for their clients before ordering or issuing frames. This guidance is essential in ensuring that the patients or clients make informed choices. They also adjust new structures using different optical tools like pliers to make the frames a more accurate fit on the patient’s face if the patient is experiencing problems with comfort or poor vision.
Opticians also have a big role to play in lens selection, fitting, and adjustments.us They do this by guiding the patient in choosing the appropriate lens type considering factors such as the patient’s condition and the optometrist’s or ophthalmologist’s prescription (Goodwin University, 2018). They also give product recommendations to their clients based on the client’s lifestyle, considering factors such as lens material and lens coating (Goodwin University, 2018). After offering guidance in lens selection, opticians also ensure that the lens that is installed in the patient or client’s eyewear is fitting since this is essential for vision correction. They do this by accurately taking measurements of the patient or client’s pupillary distance and adjusting the frames to make sure that the installed lenses align with the patient’s eyes well for optimal visual correction.
Finally, opticians provide other services to their clients, including educating them about eyewear. They do this by instructing them on how to use contact lenses showing them how to clean, insert, easily remove, and properly take care of contact lenses (Goodwin University, 2018). They also offer eyeglass repairs and adjustment services, ensuring that eyewear remains comfortable and functional throughout. Other services provided by opticians also include maintaining a clean and visually appealing daily optical display by organizing the available eyewear stock in a visually appealing manner. They also complete some additional tasks, such as preparing paperwork for patient insurance payments, tracking orders, and ordering inventories in the optical stores.
The field of opticianry, like most fields in the medical area, is regulated by specific limits of authority and responsibility and guided by a legislated scope of practice. These limits of power create the hallmark of distinction between the responsibilities of opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. Although these regulations vary by region and jurisdiction, some of the common limits of authority and responsibility in opticianry include the following. Opticians are not qualified to make medical diagnoses or perform any medical procedures related to eye problems (Tay et al., 2018). This work is limited to ophthalmologists and optometrists; opticians can only provide technical assistance.
Moreover, opticians are bound by authority not to write any prescriptions for eyewear or treatment. Instead, they rely on prescriptions made by licensed optometrists and ophthalmologists. Opticians are also limited to giving medical advice about eyewear and lens features and no other medical advice like treatment recommendations.
Opticians adhere to a set of ethical principles to ensure high standards of patient care, professionalism, and patient satisfaction are achieved and maintained. Some of the principal codes of ethics in opticianry are listed below. An optician should ensure privacy and confidentiality for his patients unless disclosure is necessary in case of referral to another profession (Tay et al., 2018). Moreover, an optician must manage his patients without bias or regard for religion, race, creed, financial status, social standing, or disability (Tay et al., 2018). Opticians should also maintain high standards of personal conduct and behavior (McGrath, 2019). Finally, an optician should only perform or participate in procedures within their level of competency.
Reflection and Personal Career
My passion for healthcare, in general, stems from my great interest in helping people improve their quality of life. I was, however, strongly drawn to the opticianry profession after a deep appreciation of the impact of vision on people’s lives. This was after having a personal experience with vision problems and witnessing some of my family members struggle with eye problems. After experiencing this unique problem and seeing how opticians transformed my visual clarity, I was able to appreciate the essential role opticians play in improving people’s quality of life through vision correction, and this sparked my interest in helping others experiencing the same problems. Besides, I have always had an interest in science, artistry, and innovation. Opticianry, being a profession that combines the three into a unique blend, therefore offers me an opportunity to explore my interests while still helping others improve their quality of life. Moreover, my excellent communication and leadership skills make me a perfect fit for this profession.
In terms of my career plan, I plan on pursuing formal education and training, completing my opticianry program and obtaining my AS degree and licensure in Miami Dade College-medical campus, thus becoming a licensed optician. I am eager to get all the essential skills necessary to help people with visual problems, skills like making accurate measurements, frame adjustments and lens fitting. After obtaining my license, I intend to work in optical practice, providing exceptional eyecare services to all my patients and ensuring that their quality of life significantly improves. After two years of course, I aiming at specializing in the field of pediatric optometry or low vision. This way, I will greatly impact the lives of many people living with eye problems, and I will have achieved my lifelong dream, passion, and calling.
References
Goodwin University. (2018). Looking ahead: The Optician Job Description. Goodwin University. https://www.goodwin.edu/enews/optician-job-description/
McGrath, P. (2019). Optical Registration Board Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Dispensing Opticians. coru. i.e. https://www.coru.ie/files-codes-of-conduct/orb-code-of-professional-conduct-and-ethics-for-dispensing-opticians.pdf
Tay, M. J., Izaac, R., Yeo, A., Tay, A., & Kwok, S. (2018). CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR OPTOMETRISTS & OPTICIANS. In healthprofessionals.gov.sg. https://www.healthprofessionals.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider6/default-document-library/english-ver–moh-oob-code-of-professional-conduct-(oct2018).pdf
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