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EDITOR'S PAGE
Encore! Encore!
Rich Kirkner
Editor-in-Chief
 About 30 years ago, a
handful of optometric visionaries hammered out an agenda for the profession. At
the top of that agenda: gain diagnostic agents, then therapeutics.
Today, you can say
mission accomplished. Because of that, our special report, "The State of
Optometry," finds that state is solid.
It begs the question: What's next
now that the DPA-TPA curtain has dropped?
The vanguards of optometry will have
to sort that out, but here's a wish list they can work with:
- Eye exams for school children.
Kentucky has the right idea passing a law that mandates these. Besides,
hasn't anyone yet figured out that our children who see well can learn well?
- Eye exams for licensed drivers. The
eyes can change a lot between license renewals. Imagine how much they change
between the 16th and 65th birthdays. The DMV can't.
- Promote medical comanagement.
Surgical fees are in a free-fall, so organized ophthalmology is squabbling
over your role in managing these patients. To them, it's about money, not sound
medical practice. Every patient deserves to have his or her family doctor
quarterback care, whether it's brain surgery, foot surgery or eye surgery.
- Continue to expand the scope of practice.
Optometry now has an excellent track record in disease management. Time to
move to the next level: universal privileges for glaucoma meds, orals and
injectibles. Then go for laser privileges for all O.D.s. Today Oklahoma,
tomorrow America!
- Raise awareness of computer-related eye
problems. Most people who use a computer have some kind of eye-related
symptom-and that's a lot of people, about 75 million on the job and almost as
many at home. A good pair of glasses and some expert consultation can fix just
about all those aches and pains.
Indeed, this is
a public health agenda. Some items are legislative efforts—something the
profession can proudly say it is quite skilled at. All would require big-time
public awareness campaigns.
The group of visionaries who laid
out optometry's DPA and TPA movements 30 years ago scored a rousing success.
Now, that the profession finds itself in a pretty good state, it's time for an
encore.
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© Review of Optometry OnLine
November
15, 2000 |
