a couple questions...

[geronamo26]

1. Does anyone know why pharmacy is soo much more popular than optometry? It seems like everyone wants to be a pharmacist these days. They don't get paid much more than optometrists and the job seems boring.
2. I was thinking about this earlier, how many patients is it possible for one optometrist to see in a day? Does it take an hour per patient? Are optomtrists billed per person? Thanks!

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[Mewcakes]

You're probably better off asking a pharmacist the first question. We (optometry) ppl obviously did not find pharmacy better than optometry, so we will likely not be able to offer much insight.

Every optometrist has a different rate at which they work. Some have more tech help than others. I've known some doctors that could only cram 7 full exams into a day and others that can do 20+. How long does it take you to do a math problem? That depends on whether the math is particularly difficult, is it not? Are you good at math? Is the math having more neuro issues than the normal math problem? Is your problem under the age of 10? Over the age of 60? Does your math problem have diabetes? So many things can affect the length of time required to examine a patient. Perhaps you should shadow a doctor to get a better idea.

Optometrists aren't generally themselves billed. They can, however, bill any patient they may see. Usually a patient is expected to pay for services rendered. Whether or not they use insurance or cash to cover said services varies from person to person. If you're trying to ask if optometrists get paid salary vs something like $$/person seen, then I would say it depends on mode of practice and who you work for (Yourself? Someone else?). In some corporate cases, they can be paid hourly.

Also, try using the search function.

 

[Taven7755]

Well, to answer your first question.....pharmacy school is generally seen as easier to get into. For example, in 2007 47% of pharmacy school applicants came in with a BS or above, compared to optometry school at 96%. The GPA requirements about the same (3.47 for pharm vs 3.55 for op school), but the list of pre-reqs for pharmacy and the number of different majors generally accepted is more broad. Also, there are many more pharmacy schools than op schools, with obviously a larger demand for a very different service.

As someone that is in op school now, I would say that there seemed to be absolutely no challenge to being a pharmacist. I would never save a life, save someone's vision, make someone's days markedly better from the knowledge and compassion I gave them. I was simply a conduit between someone who makes the actual decisions and the patients that went to these people for help....and sorry, but I did not go to school for 7-8 years to be a very well-trained and respectable middleman. I worked in the office of an OD that had been in the local paper 3 times since he started in the area 7 years previous. In the last article he and another doctor were credited with possibly saving a man's life, after he came to my boss's office with visual problems, only for the doctor to discover a brain tumor. No pharmacists are in papers, ever. No one knows can tell you who their pharmacist is, as they can their dentist, family doc, vet, and eye doctor. So yes, I am a tad passionate about what this profession does.

With all of that said, in a pure business mind, pharmacy has what is almost guaranteed 6-figures or something very close....but here is the problem: there is almost no chance of being wealthy in pharmacy. Family pharmacies have disappeared, and the entire business is run by companies for which a starting pharmacist has no chance of out-competing. In optometry, we suffer from in some cases very harsh oversupply, mainly in large urban areas, but there are extremely wealthy OD's out there. They are of course a minority, and there are too many OD's slaving away at Pearle vision for 85k a year, but the potential does exist. I think that these are the draws to our profession, and many of them have no equal in pharmacy.

So....guess next I will tell you what I REALLY think!
Good luck w everything you do. Very good question.

 

[saiwahhh]

Well, to answer your first question.....pharmacy school is generally seen as easier to get into. For example, in 2007 47% of pharmacy school applicants came in with a BS or above, compared to optometry school at 96%.

http://pharmacy.oregonstate.edu/current-students/early-admission-program

students accepted to the early admission program who maintain their gpa through their first years of undergrad will enter pharm school before obtaining their b.s. they typically gain their b.s. degree by the end of their first year in pharm school.

just an example, but a possible reason for the percentages you presented? not necessarily "easier" tho in my opinion

 

[DellGirl]

That entered my mind as well. There are many combined undergrad and pharm programs. Not so much for opto.