DVC Blog

A native of Greenville, Dr. Leslie Worthington Singer received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from North Carolina State University.  She joined Doctors Vision Center as an optometric technician and worked in both the Greenville and Raleigh locations.  She went on to receive her Doctor of Optometry Degree in 2008 from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.   She completed a Pediatric Internship at The Eye Institute in Philadelphia and an externship at the Salem Virginia VA Hospital where she provided routine eye care to military retirees and their families.  She is a member of the American Optometric Association. Dr. Singer and her husband Scott reside in Cary.  Dr. Singer is accepting new patients at Doctors Vision Center at 3905 New Bern Avenue in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The AOA Paraoptometric Section offers the tools needed for every level of staff training, from beginner to advanced.  Take advantage of the wealth of information available and allow highly trained staff to add value to a practice, helping it reach full potential.  With the ever-changing demands of the optometric practice, finding experienced staff to fill positions may seem impossible.  The cost of valuable time and money in training expenses make it a daunting task to accept non-experienced candidates as well.  DeAnna McCall has plenty of experience with this dilemma in her role as director of Training and Customer Service at Doctors Vision Center, a network of 49 practices located throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. “Staff training can be quite a challenge in a busy optometric practice,” McCall said. “Finding time for an experienced staff member to cover basic optometric principles is, on occasion, just not feasible.”  Robert Reed, Jr., O.D., a Michigan practitioner and lecturer agreed; the difficulties finding and training staff are numerous.  “Finding staff is a tough challenge,” Dr. Reed said. “Qualified pre-trained staff is virtually non-existent. That means that when you have an opening in the office-even when you do find somebody to fill it-the difficult part is who is going to teach the person and when are they going to have the time to do it?”

Online Paraoptometric Training-Navigator
A new program developed by the AOA Paraoptometric Section is intended to help fill that need. The new Online Paraoptometric Training-Navigator (OPT-N) program is designed specifically to impart the knowledge required for the unique demands of the optometric office to new staff.  “A lot of psychology is needed to understand patients,” Dr. Reed said. “Sales skills are necessary. Math skills are required. The ability to learn a wide variety of lens designs and lens enhancements and companies is needed. Front desk personnel need to be ‘people people,’ have computer skills, phone skills and problem-solving skills.”  With the variety of demands on staff, training becomes complicated. However, the OPT-N courses were built to encompass everything from terminology, to front desk procedures, external examination and even professional behavior, making it the one-stop for training needs. With information available online, new staff will be up to speed as quickly as possible, saving time and money.  “Having materials readily available that can serve as base-level instruction has proven invaluable in our practices,” McCall said.  “While the materials cannot, and should not, replace one-on-one instruction, our practices have found that the AOA materials are establishing a foundation that we can then build on through hands-on training.”  Consisting of six individual, easy-to-use, automated, audio PowerPoint courses that walk the user through each step of the learning process, OPT-N makes learning easy both for the trainer and the employee. Sponsorship by Essilor and The Vision Care Institute™, LLC, allowed for the development of this program and has made it free of charge through June 30, 2009, to AOA Paraoptometric Section members.  For $60, section members enjoy all the benefits of membership,  including the free Online Continuing Education Program, discounts at Optometry’s Meeting®, PS product discounts, and much more.  Dr. Reed said that although training involves expense, it is critical as staff represents the office to patients.  “In today’s economy, everyone is cost-conscious, so we are trying to do the most work with the least staff,” Dr. Reed said.  “I’m open to whatever makes my job easier and gives me the valued staff person.”
  CPO Study Guide
Another great way to manage training difficulties is the CPO Study Guide. This resource is perfect for helping new staff develop a general understanding in the field of paraoptometry.  Used to prepare for the first level of certification offered by the Commission on Paraoptometric Certification, the CPO Study Guide is available in either a CD or booklet form and is ideal for at-home study. According to McCall, AOA materials are invaluable to comprehensive training.  “We have practices that vary in scope and size,” McCall said. “In  some practices, the paraoptometric staff is specialized and
focuses on one particular area such as optical. For them, learning the principles behind the complete eye exam, special testing, etc., can be very challenging since it is not a part of their daily professional duties.”  The CPO Study Guide includes an introduction to essential topic areas such as practice management, anatomy of the eye, ophthalmic prescriptions and basic pharmacology and helps fulfill the role of cross-training that is sometimes impractical to teach on the job.  Flash cards will soon also be available, creating a new way to learn information valuable in the practice and when reviewing for
certification.