Career profile Ophthalmic Technician

Table of Contents

• What does an Ophthalmic Technician do?
• What is a typical salary for an Ophthalmic Technician?
• What personality traits are common among Ophthalmic Technicians?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Ophthalmic Technicians need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does an Ophthalmic Technician do?

Ophthalmic Technicians assist ophthalmologists by performing ophthalmic clinical functions.

In addition, Ophthalmic Technicians may administer eye exams, administer eye medications, and instruct the patient in care and use of corrective lenses.

What kind of tasks does an Ophthalmic Technician perform regularly?

Ophthalmic Technicians are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Take and document patients' medical histories.
• Conduct tonometry or tonography tests to measure intraocular pressure.
• Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.
• Take anatomical or functional ocular measurements of the eye or surrounding tissue, such as axial length measurements.
• Measure visual acuity, including near, distance, pinhole, or dynamic visual acuity, using appropriate tests.
• Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.
• Administer topical ophthalmic or oral medications.
• Conduct visual field tests to measure field of vision.
• Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery.
• Measure corneal curvature with keratometers or ophthalmometers to aid in the diagnosis of conditions, such as astigmatism.
• Conduct ocular motility tests to measure function of eye muscles.
• Clean or sterilize ophthalmic or surgical instruments.
• Maintain ophthalmic instruments or equipment.
• Instruct patients in the care and use of contact lenses.
• Assess refractive conditions of eyes, using retinoscopes.
• Call patients to inquire about their post-operative status or recovery.
• Assist patients to insert or remove contact lenses.
• Conduct binocular disparity tests to assess depth perception.

The above responsibilities are specific to Ophthalmic Technicians. More generally, Ophthalmic Technicians are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is an Ophthalmic Technician salary?

What personality traits are common among Ophthalmic Technicians?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as an Ophthalmic Technician are usually higher in their Conventional and Social interests.

Ophthalmic Technicians typically have strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Also, Ophthalmic Technicians typically have moderate Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as an Ophthalmic Technician tend to value Relationships, Support, and Achievement.

Most importantly, Ophthalmic Technicians strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Ophthalmic Technicians moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Ophthalmic Technicians moderately value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Ophthalmic Technicians must consistently demonstrate qualities such as integrity, self-control, and dependability.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Ophthalmic Technicians, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Ophthalmic Technicians need?

Ophthalmic Technicians often have training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Ophthalmic Technicians usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Ophthalmic Technicians

• 8.8% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 38.7% completed high school or secondary school
• 26.7% completed some college coursework
• 13.8% earned a Associate's degree
• 10.4% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 1.1% earned a Master's degree
• 0.5% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Ophthalmic Technicians

Important Abilities needed by Ophthalmic Technicians

Ophthalmic Technicians must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Ophthalmic Technicians need abilities such as oral comprehension, oral expression, and near vision in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Ophthalmic Technicians, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Ophthalmic Technicians

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Ophthalmic Technicians frequently use skills like active listening, speaking, and reading comprehension to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Ophthalmic Technicians, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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