Optometric Assistance
Program Summary
Most optometric assistants support optometrists, doctors of optometry, who provide primary vision care. They examine people’s eyes to diagnose vision problems and eye diseases and prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses and provide vision therapy.
The duties of optometric assistants vary from office to office, depending on the location and size of the practice and the practitioner’s specialty. In small practices, optometric assistants usually are “generalists,” who handle both administrative and clinical duties and report directly to an office manager, physician, or health practitioner.
The assistants perform many administrative duties, including answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patients’ medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.
Clinical duties include conducting diagnostic tests, measuring and recording vision, and testing eye muscle function. They also show patients how to insert, remove, and care for contact lenses, and they apply eye dressings. Under the direction of the physician, optometric assistants may administer eye medications. They also maintain optical and surgical instruments and may assist the ophthalmologist in surgery.
Employment Trends
- Job prospects should be excellent.
- Optometrists are expected to hire more assistants to perform routine tasks so that they may devote their own time to more profitable procedures.
- Most assistants learn their skills on the job, although an increasing number are trained in optometric-assisting programs -- most of which take less than one year or less to complete.
Program Objectives
- Successful completion of each course earns a Certificate of Completion
- Skills development and preparation leading to state certification exams
Program Curriculum
Must be a high school graduate or equivalent.
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Crs #
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Course Name
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Hrs
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HES330
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Optometric Assistance
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33
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Program total
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33
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