Proficiency and patient acceptance of ophthalmic medical assistants

We assessed the accuracy of ten ophthalmic technologist trainees (OTs) in commonly performed tasks of the ophthalmic examination. Results were derived from 224 patient examinations; 160 patients were examined both by OTs and ophthalmology residents, and an additional 64 were examined both by OTs, residents, and a faculty ophthalmologist. In measurement tasks, there was no significant difference in the results produced by the three types of providers. In identifying abnormalities of the globe and adnexae, and in history-taking, OT performance was nearly as accurate as that of the residents, when compared to the findings of the faculty ophthalmologist. In diagnosis and disposition, OT performance fell below the physician standard, especially in difficult cases. Patient acceptance of both formally trained and on-the-job trained ophthalmic medical assistants was very high. These results suggest that assistants with training comparable to that of the participants in this study may perform a large proportion of the routine ophthalmic examination without sacrificing quality or satisfaction with care.