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What They Do
About This Career
Diagnoses and treats visual system disorders such as binocular vision and eye movement impairments.
This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Provides instructions to patients or family members concerning diagnoses or treatment plans.
- Evaluates, diagnoses, or treats disorders of the visual system with an emphasis on binocular vision or abnormal eye movements.
- Examines patients with problems related to ocular motility, binocular vision, amblyopia, or strabismus.
- Performs diagnostic tests or measurements, such as motor testing, visual acuity testing, lensometry, retinoscopy, and color vision testing.
- Provides nonsurgical interventions, including corrective lenses, patches, drops, fusion exercises, or stereograms, to treat conditions such as strabismus, heterophoria, and convergence insufficiency.
- Develops nonsurgical treatment plans for patients with conditions such as strabismus, nystagmus, and other visual disorders.
- Interprets clinical or diagnostic test results.
- Develops or uses special test and communication techniques to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of children or patients with disabilities.
- Provides training related to clinical methods or orthoptics to students, resident physicians, or other health professionals.
- Refers patients to ophthalmic surgeons or other physicians.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
- Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
- Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
- Seeing clearly at a distance
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Certified Orthoptist
- Clinical Orthoptist (CO)
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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