Wanted: The Best & Brightest
Is eye care doing enough to compete?
What is the biggest threat to our ability to provide the highest level of eye care as demand grows? It is our ability to produce enough well-trained and exceptionally gifted professionals at all levels of eye care. And what impacts our ability to produce a growing number of exceptional eye care professionals? The scope of our educational system of course, but as important is our ability to attract the best and brightest. Are we doing enough to raise awareness in high schools, community and technical colleges and in the general population that our industry is fertile with opportunity, and is a wonderfully rewarding and respected profession?
The goal of the ASCO’s (Association of Schools & Colleges of Optometry) Each One Reach One Program is to “increase the number of qualified applicants to our schools and colleges - NOT the number of graduates.” ASCO says we need programs like Each One Reach One because…“a continuing decline in the number of students applying to optometry school will have serious ramifications for the entire profession. A small pool of qualified applicants eventually affects each institution’s ability to be selective in the admissions process. If the caliber of individuals entering optometry schools is threatened, then so is the profile of future optometrists, the profession’s leadership and, ultimately, patient care.” There are more than 2.5 times the number of dental schools in the US as there are Optometry schools, yet admissions standards are comparable.
What about the Technicians that play a role in the delivery of eye care to patients? As demand for the services of Optometrists grow, it’s logical that more will be required of the Technicians that assist them. What characteristics are you looking for when you recruit Technicians for your office? What standard do you set for the performance of your Technicians? What kind of training do you provide? Do you require Paraoptometric Certification? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Medical Assistants are among the fastest growing occupations during the period of 2008-2018. Employment of Medical Assistants are expected to grow by 34% during that decade, “much faster than the average occupation.” Is Optometry prepared to compete within the pool of available labor for best and brightest Medical Assistants?
Recently, the President’s Jobs & Competitiveness Council released recommendations on how the U.S. can positively impact our current employment challenges. Among the recommendations was the idea that the U.S. needs to Train Workers for Today’s Open Jobs. The report mentioned that “there are more than two million open jobs in the U.S., in part because employers can’t find workers with the advanced manufacturing skills they need.” Will the Optometry of tomorrow face this same challenge, or is tomorrow already here? Nursing has faced similar challenges, and the healthcare community has responded by establishing programs such as Discover Nursing in response (https://www.discovernursing.com/). How will Optometry respond? How will we raise awareness about the career opportunities available in our growing industry? We need to attract the best & the brightest of today and tomorrow. How will we compete to win?
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I believe eye care, specifically Ophthalmology, is losing their best and brightest technical employees. How much precious clinic time is wasted on “on-the-job” training of unskilled employees? It is not only a matter of raising awareness of our profession, but there is also a need to require formal education/training programs (similiar to nursing) and to mandate certification of technical staff. Without these standards, we will very soon see a shortage of qualified individuals .