Ophthalmic Assistant Program Part 1

Wendy: Welcome to another addition of Momentum where we share ideas on how you can gain and sustain momentum within your career. I am Wendy Walden. Today we are talking about our Ophthalmic Medical Assistant Program that is offered in our continuing education division at Greenville Tech and we have two really good interviews lined up today. First, we are going to be speaking with Angie Brown, Department Head for CE Health, Sciences and Nursing and later on we will be talking to Dr. Hal Shaw from the Jervey I Group. But first we are going to start with Angie Brown. Hi, Angie, Welcome.

Angie: good morning.

Wendy: how are you?

Angie: I’m fine.

Wendy: Now you have a number of courses/programs in health care that is under your umbrella.

Angie: Exactly

Wendy: Today we are going to talk about the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant Program. Tell us a little about that.

Angie: We are very proud at the Buck Mickel Center to offer the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant program. This program, Wendy consists of a 170 hours and part of the course is a 90 hour lecture and lab, hands on training and the 80 hours is part of externship that the students go on at the end of the class for hands on training at an eye care facility.

Wendy: Does someone have to have a previous background in health care or administrative duties in order to enter the program?

Angie: No, Wendy they only have to have a high school diploma or GED to enroll.

Wendy: Great, Now you talked about some lab and field trips that are part of the program. Talk to me a little about. What is involved in the field trips and the labs.

Angie: Greenville Tech is very fortunate to have four labs or stations that the students can do hands on training. These labs were donated by local physicians to Greenville Technical College. We also have nine field trips the students are able to participate in within the course and during that time the physicians and their techs on site at the medical facility train the students.

Wendy: Now, through the program are they learning a certain aspect of the program and then they are going out into the field trips or to the labs to practice what they are learned in the classroom setting?

Angie: exactly, they are learning the pre-screening and the visual fields for the doctors prior to going out into the field and doing the hands on experience.

Wendy: And then they will go back to the classroom setting and finish and continue to learn a different area of the program.

Angie: right

Wendy: Wonderful, Now let's talk about the instructors of the program because we have some wonderful doctors, local doctors that our part of our program that helps to instruct the students. Tell us about that.

Angie: We have 11 physicians that donate and volunteer their time to come in and instruct these students. We also have Cindy Duncan which works for Dr. Sarah (Maluchi?) and
Kathy Holcombe that works for Dr. Nick McClain and they have like 27 years of experience that they bring to the classroom. The 11 physicians that have donate their time we have seen in the end result is well trained, motivated, and competent students who can get employment.

Wendy: That is wonderful. What are the demands for Ophthalmic Medical Assistants?

Angie: There is a huge demand of Ophthalmic Medical Assistants. We get calls regularly looking for Ophthalmic Medical Assistants and they find employment. We get calls from all over SC.

Wendy: That is so wonderful. And one good thing to mention too Angie is that we are the only school in SC that offers the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant program.

Angie: Exactly, and they do call us for those Ophthalmic Medical assistants. There is such a huge need for that.

Wendy: Correct, so we find people from all over the state and our surrounding cities and different states that are coming here to take the course.

Angie: Yes, even in Asheville, NC we have some students from Myrtle Beach, SC and all surrounding areas they are coming to take this course and the doctors are calling to get these well trained individuals.

Wendy: Now, is the course offered five days per week or is it two days, three days?

Angie: It is Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings which is convenient for some who work- from 6 to 9.

Wendy: When does the next program start up date?

Angie: The next program start date is January the 22nd and we also have since there is such a huge demand, with the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant Program, we also, have it available April the 23rd and August 6th.

Wendy: So you added another program essentially because the demand of the program is so high.

Angie: We have.

Wendy: That’s wonderful. Now, with it there is an exit exam that students must complete before they complete the course?

Angie: Yes, there is an exam at the end of the course. There is 188 question course or question exam and the students must complete that and it is from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Wendy: That is great and we also offer the success rate we must add is pretty high. Let’s talk about the success rate of that.

Angie: The success rate I think has to do with the instructors and the 11 physicians and the field trips we go on, the success rate for the students is 99.8 percent in passing.

Wendy: which indicates the success of our program and the quality of the program that's really good

Angie: Exactly

Wendy: Now, we also offer COA, Certified Ophthalmic Assistant Review.

Angie: We do offer that. That is the next level for the OMA. OMA is what they are when they graduate Ophthalmic Medical Assistance. The next step in the level of training is COA. So Certified Ophthalmic Assistant can take the exam from the Joint Commission of Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology.

Wendy: Great, now would you suggest students work a certain amount of time before they sit for the exam or

Angie: Normally they have to work 2000 hours to sit for the exam.

Wendy: okay

Angie: before they sit for the exam.

Wendy: but we offer the prep review for that exam. And what to mention too Angie is the review the students will for through as they are working and preparing to take that exam they are learning everything that was taught in the review so that will help them reinforce what they have learned throughout the three months of the program.

Angie: It does, Wendy and I even suggest they take their manual with them to work on the job site.

Wendy: to cover all the areas

Angie: to make sure

Wendy: refresher,

Angie: exactly

Wendy: great, what's on the horizon on health care offerings in CE?

Angie: We see huge wave of on- line courses that is such a demand. I mean people love to take an on-line course from the comfort of their home. We are offering a new unit secretary that is 150 hours that is starting in Jan. 2007 that will be on-line and also Dental Office Management course which is a 90 hour course that will be available on line. We have hundreds of on-line courses available in Health Sciences, Nursing and CE for students to take.

Wendy: And it certainly makes it very convenient for students who are working during the day and it becomes so popular and the ease of doing your exam and doing your class work on-line from the comfort of your home is just so exciting, you know.

Angie: It is so exciting and it is growing, we have students from every state now in our on-line classes from the United States.

Wendy: And the success rate is great. That is wonderful. Well thank you so much for joining us Angie. We appreciate you telling us all about the Ophthalmic Assistant Program. We are going to take a break and when we come back we will speak to Dr. Hal Shaw. Stay with us.