Poll; optician education route

[Wes]

Please pick one that applies to you.

[gmc]

B.S. unrelated field.

FL license 5 or more years practice in unlicensed state + ABO, NCLE, state board exam.

[Wes]

The optiboarders are by far the most competent group of opticians I have met. I keep hearing and I believe that education is key to the furtherance of this profession. We often wonder why this does not happen. I believe it is because the majority of our leadership is not formally educated and there are too many of us who would feel left out in the cold if a 2-4 year degree became the standard.
Until we can all come to a consensus, we will remain a semi-professional group. recognized in less than half of the country.
Wes

[obxeyeguy]

#1 for me.

[Judy Canty]

I think it boils down to money. Who's hiring and what are they willing to pay?

I believe there are 2 groups to be "educated".

1. Consumers, who expect nothing less for their hard-earned money than the best services available.

2. Employers, who believe that their patients or customers deserve nothing less than the most competent service available.

Until those 2 groups are on the same page, Opticians will remain at the bottom of the food chain.

[opticianbart]

not truely self educated though... more like 3 years of informal .."mentorship" from every experianced optician I can bug, pester, and weasel info out of. :) (which sadly is about as good as it gets in Maryland)

[Striderswife]

I'm not really sure which choice applies to me. The college I have was pre-optometry, but after a while, I decided I didn't want to be the doctor. Besides, all my education so far had nothing to do with optometry anyway (all the basics, basically). So really, no formal training, as far as a classroom is concerned.

All my training has been on-the-job, but I'd never heard the term "apprentice" until joining Optiboard. After 13 years, I'm still learning. I am ABO certified, but I didn't take any official study courses. I used my boss' old study guides, so I guess I kind of had a "mentor" at the time. I still wouldn't say "self-taught" though, because I had people teaching me the whole time.

Who am I? I need to belong!

[DoubleD]

I side with Judy! With much, much more education than just the Opticianry School, as another unemployed soul out there, one wonders the current value of expertise to current employers, and product quality/service to today's patients.

[kcount]

Simply use the Florida concept and give a few different avenues in

1. Accredited College courses equalling an Assoc. in Science with a focus on Opticianry
2. 5 years "Apprenticeship" in unlicensed state (ie: on-the-job training. Also, I would put a caveat that proof of training must come from a licensed eyecare professional)
3. 3 years "Apprenticeship"/on-the-job training in licensed state (Put in same caveat)

ABOC and NCLC

This would answer the education consideration and should be a backable concept for most opticians. Once licensure is in place start raising the bar.

I would also bring in a written exam at some point and allow for a direct line to licensure with an ABOM and 5 years on the job. (if the ABO doesn't want a requirement for the ABOM we'll put one in on the other side.)

[kcount]

Oh, and some more for you. Once licensure is in the majority of states, start the push to elliminate the dispensing, sale, delivery of Rx eyewear with out the supervision of a licensed Eyecare professional. License must be held in the state that the medical device is being dispensed in. This wont stop on-line sales but it will put someone on the ground to look to when things go wrong (read: when the Lawyers start suing for liability when little Johnny lost an eye and there is no documentation of a duty to warn.)

[Jacqui]

I had a BSIE degree before stating with AO 40 years ago. I believe that opticians and most lab techs should have at least a AAS and at least 2 years on-the-job training before licensing.

I should also add, that in my case I also have an MBA and nursing degrees (helps on the medical and business sides).

[Barry Santini]

Went to formal opticianry school (the best in the country...even today).

But...learned more here from optiboarders than anywhere else!

Barry:cheers:

PS: Oh, and from my Dad too!;)

[Framebender]

at 13. Did a 3 year formal apprentice program in a B&L lab. Haven't been smart enough to get out. Besides, I really love this business. I do believe that education is the key to raising the standards of our profession. That being said, until the internet starts infringing on OD & MD livelyhood, nothing is going to be done about internet sales. Sure they hurt them some, but we take the brunt of the hit. Not to mention our suppliers buying internet sites. Just my 2 cents.

:hammer::shiner::hammer:

[Audiyoda]

Reality as I see it is this (for retail-based opticians):

In states that require licensure you will find most opticians that either have formal education (that's also where you'll find schools that supply that formal education) or apprenticed/mentored for an appropriate number of years. You'll also find a requisite number of frame stylists some of whom want to learn more about opticianry and some who don't.

In states that have no licensure requirements you'll find opticians that fit within these basic categories:

• They work or worked for big, corporate optical and many of moved on.
• They were hired for their personality and trained by a knowledgeable optician and augmented that training with self education.
• They worked for a wholesale lab and gleaned enough move to a retail position and continued to self-educate.
• They found that 1 of 100 OD who actually understands practical optics and dispensing and self-educated beyond what the OD could teach them.
• They have no formal training at all and have learned what they know from reps and other assumptions.

Just my $.02, YMMV.

BTW, I fit into #2 in a round-a-bout way - I was lucky enough to get hired into corporate optical one hour lab with a lab manager that had 20yrs experience and mentored me.

[Chris Ryser]

3 years of apprentiship (2 days school a week)
followed by
3 years of optical school

Total 6 years of learning optics

[Wes]

That's much higher than I initially suspected, but that is from responding optiboarders, not the general opticians at large.

[kcount]

For the record. 3 years under Master optician 20+ years in the biz. some time working on a BA in computers at Depaul.

All that and $3.00 will get me on the train. Although I think it has more to do with the $3.00 than the rest.

[Fezz]

D. Self-Induced Opium Daydream, Professor Samuel Taylor Coleridge


;):cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Robert Martellaro]

A much too short apprenticeship with a very knowledgeable optician. Primarily self-educated, with some college level (EE) math and physics.

[rdcoach5]

How about 4 years? That's the way it used to be!

[Mr. Finney]

I'll lose evryone's respect if I tell you.................................er...................... ......too late, nevermind. I had a 3 year...No, wait!....make that 3 week crash course on very basic optics with good 'ol LC, then was thrown to the wolves to learn for myself. Thankfully, I had a mentor who had been in the business for well over 40 years, and a lab manager who was extremely bright. Learned a lot through studying for the ABO, but like Barry, I think I've learned more here on OB than anywhere else. :cheers:

[tigerlilly]

I've said this before, but it bears repeating: for many of us in an unlicensed state, Optiboard *is* our apprenticeship. The retail sector isn't stepping up to the plate with adequate training and mentoring like it used to, so it's up to the individual to seek out further training and education. Those of us who are lucky will work under seasoned pros willing to help us along the path to true competency, but there's so much more to opticianry than what can be learned in a big box or even a book, and that's where a venue like this comes into play.

[Wes]

I've said this before, but it bears repeating: for many of us in an unlicensed state, Optiboard *is* our apprenticeship. The retail sector isn't stepping up to the plate with adequate training and mentoring like it used to, so it's up to the individual to seek out further training and education. Those of us who are lucky will work under seasoned pros willing to help us along the path to true competency, but there's so much more to opticianry than what can be learned in a big box or even a book, and that's where a venue like this comes into play.

I went through my formal ed program in 93, and spent the next thirteen plus years in lab work. When I started dispensing a few years ago, optiboard was a godsend.
I read the tips on dispensing thread all the way through. Read page after page of threads. Figured out who were the specialists in different fields.
Anything I need to know, someone here knows it. Everyone can't know everything, and we all have our specialties. I'm glad this is here for us. Its helped me and I use it to help others when I can.
Wes

[ronnie daniels]

im 14 months into my apprenticeship...Being mentored by both my grandpa, grandma, and pretty much adopted uncle (hes worked at out shop for 18 years) over 100 years experience between the 3. We talked about me going to an optician school but decided against it based on one idea. We dont believe you can learn alot of things for this business from a classroom. Practical things need to be learned with on the job training.

[Johns]

-Formal Optical School.
-Life time studen -School of Hard Knocks




Student of Dr. Norman Ross, OD...



Dr. Norman E. Ross









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