Current Status of Ophthalmic Optometry Laboratory Personnel in Korea, Japan, and the United States

Abstract

The education and training system, the ISCO (International Standard Classification of Occupations), and the legal systems of Japan and the United States consider all ophthalmic optometry laboratory personnel as ophthalmologists. They encompass optometrists, orthoptists, optometric technicians, and ophthalmic medical technicians. Data retrieved from the KOSIS (Korean Statistical Information Service) revealed that the number of opticians associated with the department of ophthalmology in 2022 could be appraised by classifying their medical institutions; contrarily, the number of clinical laboratory technologists could not be assessed. However, the current research investigated a general tertiary hospital and determined that clinical laboratory technologists outnumber opticians. Classification in Korea is based on ophthalmic optometry laboratory personnel, ISCO, ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education), the medical service act, the act on medical service technologists, and the higher education act. These results cannot be compared to the optometrists evaluated in the United States. Ophthalmology is a suitable profession for optometric technologists and technicians who perform under the instructions of ophthalmologists and optometrists. The field of eye healthcare would be benefitted by assigning the management based on their qualification according to the requirement of the job title, such as 'Clinical Optometry Technologist' to be given to clinical laboratory technologists and opticians who work in the ophthalmic optometry laboratories after obtaining a private qualification endowed by the Korean Ophthalmological Society and the Korean Optometry Society.