Ophthalmic Medical Assistant Job Description

Eye Doctors: A Career in Specialization

You don't need a degree or certificate to work as an eye doctor. A lot of the work is learned through job training and the assistant should have a high school diploma. Being able to communicate clearly and effectively is important for the assistant to be able to convey certain information to the patient and to gather information from the patient.

The assistant should be patient and explain to the patient how to insert contact lens in a way that they don't misunderstand end up hurting themselves. Being able to give instructions in a set order is important for the same reason. The assistant will have to use their own initiative and make choices if they want to find solutions to problems without the doctor being present.

It is not a profession for someone who is sensitive to the sight of blood to help the doctor during surgery. If you don't know if you will be employed or not, you won't be able to plan for a career. With medical technology increasing, doctors will need to hire more medical assistants to do the clerical work so that they can focus on treating patients, which is good news for aspiring medical assistants.

Ophthalmic Medical Assistants

Medical assistants are trained to work with patients and doctors. They go through training programs to be prepared for the many duties that medical assistants perform. A medical assistant can be licensed after completing an accredited MA training program.

MA perform duties that include patient assessment, testing, treatment administration, assisting physicians and clerical duties. A medical assistant can specialize in a specific field. Diagnostic tests involving the eyes and vision are performed by MAs working in an ossuary or ophthalmology practice.

They record each patient's vision. They perform eye tests on patients. Ophthalmic MA performs tests to check for eye pressure, peripheral vision and colorblindness.

An eye doctor will document their findings after each test. Ophthalmic MA help patients during their visit to the eye doctor. They explain how the tests are done.

They help patients get to the test rooms. Clerical duties associated with medical assistants include pulling and filing charts. They are usually responsible for answering phone lines and calling patients to let them know about their upcoming appointments.

Ophthalmic medical assistants are trained to provide vision care. They don't write prescriptions, but they do a lot of the work to make sure the prescription is right. They test vision and eye muscles.

They measure the distance between the eyes. They ask patients questions about their medical history, and they may also do telephone triage. Ophthalmic medical assistants can work in private practices or large medical facilities.

An eye doctor who works for a small practice has other duties as well. They should be able to teach patients how to fill out forms. Other duties include greeting patients, scheduling appointments, and attaching medical codes to procedures.

Customer service skills can be an asset. Medical assistants can progress to the level of an eye technician or technologist with more training. Higher level assisting personnel may be able to teach patients how to handle contact lens.

Ophthalm medical assistants can help with eye surgery. There are different levels of voluntary certification available through JCAHPO. Specialty certification is also available.

Medical assistants are often the first point of contact for patients. They may help on both levels. Some medical assistants work for general practitioners.

If you are interested in working in the medical field, you may want to consider working as an eye doctor. An eye doctor uses an eye medical assistant. Medical doctors who specialize in treating eye conditions are called Ophthalmoloists.

A postgraduate program in which they earn a doctorate in optometry is required for Optometrists to be considered medical doctors. Responsibilities are the same for both doctors of sight. Ophthalmologists and optometrists use medical assistants in their practices.

Some assistants work in large medical practices while others work in small private practices. Ophthalmologic medical assistants may also be employed by eye clinics. Ophthalmic medical assistants can help patients with all types of eye problems.

They may care for patients with eye injuries. Some patients may be farsighted. There are many instances where patients need to have their eyes examined.