Norma Garber has been an ophthalmic medical assistantfor more than 30 years.
And there are good reasons for her farsighted career choice. "It offers a
vast amount of areas to work in. You don't get bored or dead-ended. The career
options are limitless!"
For Garber, the most rewarding aspect of the field is the constant change.
"You need to learn and keep up with changes in medical eye care delivery and
new technical and performance requirements."
But keeping up with the technical and performance requirements is just
one part of the equation. Another factor is dealing with patients. "It can
be difficult dealing with patients who have limited communication skills,
either through language barriers, mental capacity or because they're of a
young age."
Garber has had the fortune of being able to pass along her knowledge through
class instruction. "The most exciting opportunity was to be able to teach
at all three levels of expertise -- assistant, technician, technologist and
surgical assisting -- at a big university." She eventually was named an assistant
clinical professor at a prestigious medical school.
Eye care certainly isn't a dead-end medical area. Garber urges students
to seriously consider entering the profession because "there are great career
advancement opportunities."
With demand for professionals outweighing supply, students can get in on
the ground floor of a promising, fast-growing career. "This is a great field
to get in. There are a lot of job opportunities and the job market has more
demand for ophthalmic medical personnel than there are qualified OMPs to fill
the jobs."
Jane Aiers has worked in ophthalmic medicine for many years. "I really
enjoy the variety of tasks I perform, and working with people."
Aiers initially trained as an orthoptist, which requires an undergraduate
degree and two years of specialized training. She followed that up with a
correspondence course. So there are plenty of chances to grow in this profession.
"This is a worthwhile career with lots of variety and a chance to upgrade
skills and try new challenges in other parts of ophthalmology."
In fact, says Aiers: "It's not necessary to enter this field as I did.
Many ophthalmic assistants are trained on the job and aren't certified by
a governing body. I'd recommend the training program through... JCAHPO [Joint
Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology]....The background
knowledge is excellent, and you're much more marketable when you have a certificate."