Optometrists are those eye professionals who are trained in checking the error in vision. An Optometrist’s responsibility is to take primary checking of eye health of any person. Besides checking the defect in vision, an Optometrist also offers expert services in detecting signs of injury and any type of ocular disease. An Optometrist has professional training in offering clinical advice on contact lenses and prescribing spectacles.
The key role of an optometrist
The duty of an optometrist is to check the primary vision of a person. Many confuse an Ophthalmologist and an optometrist. An Ophthalmologist is a professional who mainly takes care of medical and surgical treatment. But an optometrist only takes care of vision care and eye care services.
An optometrist joins a 4-year professional program after completion of college. On successful completion of the professional program, they get the degree of doctor of optometry. Besides, many optometrists opt for supplementary courses for clinical treatment and complete a specialty fellowship course. The services of an optometrist are mentioned below.
- Their primary duty is to perform eye examinations and tests for vision errors.
- They prescribe suitable eyeglasses and contact lenses for the patients.
- An optometrist monitors eye-related diseases. Several causes, like diabetes, hypertension, etc, are responsible for eye diseases. Optometrists conduct the necessary monitoring to detect the real cause of varied eye diseases. In case the specialists find any irregularity, they suggest the patients for additional health check-ups.
- Optometrists are trained in checking glaucoma and other ocular disorders. The professional possesses the required degree in suggesting the best medicines for the patients. The professionals are eligible to provide medicines like pharmaceutical drugs, antibiotics, some particular analgesics, etc.
- An optometrist holds the right to prescribe all licensed drugs. However, they are not eligible to prescribe injectables.
- Optometrists are also contact lens professionals. They are eligible to suggest a particular type of contact lens like varifocal & toric lenses.
Optometrists are also engaged in various hospitals, and their duties in hospitals are enormous. Similar to clinic services, the professionals also carry on primary health checks for outpatients in hospitals.
In hospitals, an optometrist provides the best treatment to patients suffering from irreparable eyesight. Here the professionals suggest the proper medication so that patients can get recovered faster.
During their duties in hospitals, an optometrist checks the problems of patients having cataracts. The professionals will do the necessary counselling for the cataract patients who have already undergone cataract surgery. They also check the previous medical reports of the patients.
An optometrist gets an opportunity to work with medical specialists. They do the complete assessment of the eye functions of any patient.
Conclusion
The above are the primary services that an optometrist offers. Anyone having an eye problem can get the best suggestion from an optometrist. All can check here more on advanced optometrist services. During offering optometrist services, the professionals can face different legal problems. Hence, all the professionals here are required to learn about malpractice insurance for optometrists through PECAA so that they can feel safe in their professional careers.
