What does an optometric assistant do?

Optometric assistant works in the Optometrist office and can perform different functions depending on the size of the office. These tasks may include routine office work such as income writing, answering phone and general accounting. He or she also often helps doctors with patients, shows them in the examination room, instill in eye drops and perform patient education.

Another name that is often used for an optometric assistant is a paraoptometric technician. This person is usually certified by the Association of Professional Optometry, usually after the training period and then passing the exam. Certified optometric assistant or paraoptometric is able to provide qualified assistance by physicians of optometry and will generally be evaluated for different levels of skills and specialties, similar to nurses when working with doctors and hospitals.

When an optometric assistant has not been certified or has only been certified at the lower level of skills, it usually performsOffice work as a regular part of work. This includes things like setting up meetings, patient calls to remind them of the upcoming meetings and take patients to the test rooms for their meetings. They also often manage money, accept payments from patients and issue income along with any related accounting. These assistants are often trained to prepare graphs and forms of insurance, administration and adding the appropriate medical codes to paperwork as needed.

Further training and certification can lead to an optometric assistant to spend more time to work with patients under the supervision of a doctor. In this case, during the examination, it can make notes for an optometrist and can also give eye drops and possibly perform basic tests. In some cases, an optometric assistant can help patients with visualTherapy, learning the necessary procedures and their monitoring to make sure thatE patients understand what to do.

Sometimes an optometric assistant specializes in working with patients after examination. This usually includes helping them to select frames that are suitable for both the patient's face and the type of lens. Paraoptometric can measure things as the distance between the eyes or other facial measurements to ensure that new glasses are correctly adapted.

Another specialized area that an optometric assistant can choose is to help patients with contact lenses. In this case, it will help new contact wearers to learn how to insert lenses and remove them as well as procedures for cleaning and general care. Paraoptometric will usually also cover important warning signals to help patients recognize eye infections and other possible problems.