"Occupational licensing is shortsighted"

[ziggy]

The only national competency exam [ABO] has lead the charge in the downward spiral for decades. And all the other national "leaders" have stood idly by and done nothing. Except collect dues.

Your right, the national exams, (ABO-NCLE) have been getting easier every year. IMO, the ABO-NCLE have been catering to the chains or the people who design the questions are not as smart as the folks back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. The last few apprentices that I have had beat me up over making them study Stoner's optical formulas book when it applied to so few questions. I brought this up to an ABO-NCLE board member and the response was that the test was to measure BASIC competencies. What is considered basic sure has changed.

[Uilleann]

I think it isn't so much the level of what is being taught that has changed - but rather the actual nature of what dispensing is now (and frankly has been since what, the 70's?) as opposed to looking back more than 500 years or so. Glasses have become an almost exclusively fashion oriented, completely disposable commodity. Certainly, the vast majority of the spectacle purchasing public seems to feel this way when asked. And the interweb is only bolstering that impression. The US government doesn't regulate dispensing, and barely regulates the hardware itself either. All done in the name of the almighty consumer. Not the patient mind you, but the consumer. A key point of distinction it would seem.

Further hastening the shift away from a perception of medical devices are contact lenses. Why bother with an NCLE test and cert. if you never or almost never will fit an RGP? To know how to polish one every few weeks that grandma still wears? (Sure this is a broad generalization, but is becoming more the norm than the exception across the board.) Fewer and fewer dispensers are fitting lenses of any kind, and those that are would likely look at a soft lens option more than 90% of the time. The fitting process allows for lots more 'slop' than the hard lenses did of course, and I've seen many a patient fit by both ODs and MDs that were given the cheap soft lens of the week 'special', maybe got all of a 10 second glance at the slit lamp, during a brand new fit, and told everything was perfect, and not to come back for 1-2 years.

Sure, there are always exceptions tot he rules. But by and large, we work in a fashion based commodity industry, and less and less in a medical field. This is public perception - not that the medical scope of what we've done in the past has changed. It's just become more devalued by the public over time. Licensure won't change that. The ABO won't change that - and they don't care to. And lawmakers nationwide certainly won't lift a finger to change it either.

Medicine isn't sexy. But cheap colored contacts from 1-800 I can over wear, and WP nerd glasses sure are!

[Chris Ryser]

I still have some old training materials from my time working for retailers, it was good solid optical information. It’s a pity that it is not used any more.

Yes it is a pity.

This thread seem to tell me that the real artisan optician that learned from the ground up, is a slowly disappearing species, and some smart people have seen it coming a few years back, and have jumped into the market big time.

[newguyaroundhere]

I don't. VisionWorks' and Lenscrafters' comprehensive lab training programs in the 1990s are the source of 90% of my knowledge of optics and frame mechanics. Maybe the "frame stylists" on the floor are poorly trained, but the technical knowledge I got in their labs are the foundation of my excellence today.

Agreed. The Earn While You Learn program at Lenscrafters was how I got started in the business in the early 2000's. You were taught every single machine and the ins and outs on how to operate, how to maintain it, etc and had to show you knew what you were doing before you moved on to the next module. Also, I had to inspect 50 jobs and document anything I saw wrong with each pair and have my work checked by a lab manager or lead tech before it went out the dispensing window. My final exam was I had to travel to another store and inspect 5 jobs and jot down everything that was wrong on them, whether they passed or not.

Nowadays, they will basically hire anyone and basically show them how to run the machines but will show very little actual optical knowledge to them, effectively making them glorified button pushers.

[idispense]

What you know about optics is surpassed by what you don't know about marketing and finding a leader. the Warby Parkers and the Zennis are witness to that. They have accomplished more in five years than the associations and councils have in twenty.

They have risen from nothing and changed the public. Lead, follow or get out of the way, would seem to be their motto .

Whats your motto : "bicker till the end" ?

[Boldt]

Speaking as someone who is having to take the tests now, and not back then, I have to say they are nothing to sneeze at from my point of view. Keep in mind that most people here took them years ago and have great hind sight.
I've been lightly prepping for the ABO for about a year now, after taken it cold once, cramming for it the second time. Both times I was talked/bribed into taking it and failed by one or two points. This year I took it again and They added quite a bit more. For people who have been in the industry from when the focus was on training and who have kept learning it would very probably be an easy test.
But for someone who has come in when prism thinning and slab off are done by computers. Blended segs and round segs are going out. Yet they are big in the tests even though the tech is out dated and not taught in most places, I can tell you it's not a simple test. And before I have the people start ripping into me about education, taking it upon my self to learn and the other thing in that line, I am. I'm here to learn, I read what books I can get my hands on, pick wiser opticians brains, and am always looking for new things to pick up. The problems are:
1: With as fast as the industry is starting to move knowledgeable people are dropping out of it. Weather in retirement or frustration.
2: Often I'm the most experienced person in the office. I'm not ok with it.
3: I've been told many times by those that do know more than me that they don't want to, or don't have time to teach me.

Yes we need to have LDO's, The ABO path and NCLE are also important. But we need more access to good training, books at a reasonable price, and people who know what they are doing to take people under their wings more.
I'm sure I missed a few things here, and miss spoke on others and I apologize in advance.

[jcasowder]

Providing excellent service will always come out on top. I've often argued with my bosses who only wanted us to continually push the highest end product to every single customer and patient that comes in through our doors. I rather actually listen to what the patient wants and give them various options to achieve what they are looking for. Ultimately, I want my patients to be happy with what they received and continue to come back year after year and refer others to me.

I went through that with a national chain back in 1998. I came in to work the retail floor (even though I was asst lab manager). We were short a person out front, and I was the only cross-trained person in the store. The VP of marketing came to our store during the big push for their brand AR coating. As I was getting ready in the back, he was talking to the GM stating that "Blah-blah is great! everyone should have blah-blah!". Then he looked at me with a big grin and said "Right?". I said no. My GM almost fainted. The VP asked why not, and I explained that not everyone should have them. Our demographics included a lot of farmers, and they would destroy the lenses in no time. The VP said "well, sell them a second pair". I said they couldn't afford it. That I look to fill the patient's needs and make sure they are satisfied, so they will spread the word about how great we are, and come back. He stared at me for a full minute, not speaking. Just when I thought the GM was gonna have a stroke, the VP turned and looked at him and said "I LIKE HER!!"

For the rest of the visit, I was just being the usual me, talking and debating things with him. We discussed a mountain of things. I didn't kiss his butt, but was respectful. By the time he left, he asked if I would be moving near the company HQ anytime soon (hubby was military, and a base is 30 min from there). I told him I have no idea. He said I would have a job in home office the moment I decided. I said I had no degree, but he said "Doesn't matter. We need someone like you up there. Please consider moving." and left. He called a couple times after that just to talk or to see if I was moving.

Integrity and honesty take you a looooonnggg way when it comes to dealing with people in general. You hit the nail on the head.

[jcasowder]

This seems a bit myopic to me. " Oh, Mr ABOM, it says here you once worked at Wal-Crafters. You can't possibly know how to use a ruler. NEXT!"

She asks them to perform a simple task, such as taking a seg height or PDs, and they can't do it. They have no clue whatsoever. They can't even tell her what a B measurement is. If you say you have experience in optical, make sure you can use a PD ruler! She's seeing this ALL THE TIME, especially people that work in a big chain. Unless they're old school (like we are). Then she'll snatch them up in a heartbeat.

[Wes]

She asks them to perform a simple task, such as taking a seg height or PDs, and they can't do it. They have no clue whatsoever. They can't even tell her what a B measurement is. If you say you have experience in optical, make sure you can use a PD ruler! She's seeing this ALL THE TIME, especially people that work in a big chain. Unless they're old school (like we are). Then she'll snatch them up in a heartbeat.

Testing their opticianry skills and making decisions based on that evaluation is completely valid. That's a much different scenario than your original blanket statement that she just won't hire anyone who worked at certain chains, which was the basis for my silly comment. :)

[fjpod]

Very flawed arguments in that article, imo.

The author talks like Licensed opticians make exorbitant salaries. I guess he feels everyone (but himself) should be making minimum wage.

Unfortunately,... I think the real threat to dispensers is online selling, which simply bypasses the optician. Bypassing the refraction is next.

[Chris Ryser]

Unfortunately,... I think the real threat to dispensers is online selling, which simply bypasses the optician. Bypassing the refraction is next.

That is exactly what it looks like and seems to be the fact.

However most posters on OptiBoard do make opposite statements and will not admit it.

That the largest optical corporation world wide, is banking on optical on-line selling by becoming the largest of all of them, should be some food for thought.

[jcasowder]

Testing their opticianry skills and making decisions based on that evaluation is completely valid. That's a much different scenario than your original blanket statement that she just won't hire anyone who worked at certain chains, which was the basis for my silly comment. :)

Twas I that was silly for not being more specific. I had a blonde moment!