For this assignment, I interviewed an optometrist who practices in Metro Vancouver. He has requested to stay anonymous so I will refer to him as Dr. AJ. I have always wanted to go into the medical field for my career, so I decided to contact my family’s eye doctor. His role is to treat, manage, and correct disorders and diseases of the eye. He also prescribes and fits eyeglasses and contact lenses. It is his responsibility to prescribe medications and refer his patients to other specialists.

My questions are as follows:

1.  Why did you decide to become an optometrist?

I became an optometrist because I had other family members in the field and they had recommended it to me. I always wanted to work in healthcare and it seemed like a good fit.

2. If you could choose to become an optometrist again, would you, do it? 

Yes

3. Can you explain your roles and responsibilities with your current position?

Optometrists do eye exams to assess any ocular disease and visual disorders, we prescribe and fit eyeglasses and contact lenses, we also recommend treatments such as eye exercises for certain visual problems, we remove foreign bodies from in/around the eyes, prescribe medications when needed for certain eye conditions/infections, and we refer to other specialists within the scope of our practice.

4. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today? 

The main obstacles were getting into Optometry school, and paying the tuition 😂

5. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing? 

You need to be able to listen to your patients, treat them as you would treat your own family members, they all have different problems and you need to be able to understand what their main issues are and do your best to help them. You must respect them and treat them with the dignity that they deserve, most patients are senior citizens.

6. Why are you passionate about your job or role? 

I am passionate about being an optometrist because I know my job is to help people. Patients come to us because of a problem, and when we solve it, they are grateful and we are more than happy to help. Unfortunately, we are stuck in the era that we live in and therefore are stuck with the technology of our era, there are many disease processes that we don’t have all the answers to yet, but one day we will get there.

 

 

What I learned

I learned that I am passionate about becoming an optometrist. I would really enjoy helping people and working on new technology. Interviewing Dr. AJ has inspired me to expand my horizons and explore many different career paths and opportunities. This interview has been an eye-opening experience for me and educated me on what it would be like to become an optometrist. To summarize, I learned a lot from this interview and hope to come across more of these kinds of educational experiences.