Optometrists who leave the profession in Australia: 2011 to 2019

The number, demographics, registration status and geographic distribution of optometrists in Australia who do not renew their registration is reported.

The size of the optometry workforce in Australia is determined by the number of new entrants to the profession and the number of optometrists leaving it. Limited attention has been paid to the latter.

A dataset obtained from the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency about registered optometrists during the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2019 was analysed. It included registrants' first year of registration, gender, year of birth (in five-year bands), optometry qualification; and annual collection of registration type and postcode of principal place of practice.

Data for 6,595 registrants were analysed. Over the study period, 626 optometrists left the register. When those leaving the register were examined by year of birth bands, two main groups emerged - optometrists aged in their fifties or older, and optometrists who were under forty years of age and disproportionately male. Registration type had a significant effect on whether a registrant left or remained on the register (p < 0.05). Those holding Non-practising Registration or Limited Registration were more likely to leave the register. Registrants with an optometry qualification from an overseas institution, including from New Zealand, were more likely to leave the register (p < 0.05). Optometrists whose registration was not endorsed were more likely to leave the register (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found when the geographic location of optometrists who left the register was compared with those who remained.

Optometrists who left the register fell into two main groups - late-career and early-career. An unanticipated finding was that younger optometrists who left the register were disproportionately male. What motivates optometrists in Australia to leave the register is worthy of future research.