Optician Assistant Job Description
Optician assistants, also known as optical assistants, are part of the team who work in an optician’s clinic or practice. Their role combines administrative duties with basic tasks connected with eye treatment; thus, depending on their place of work, the optician’s assistant might spend some of their day based in a reception area, engaging with the public, and the rest aiding an optician or carrying out work in a back room.
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Administrative
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Though most optician’s assistants these days have a work routine which is varied and goes beyond a receptionist’s role, as noted by the Matheson Optometrists website, most assistants still have plenty of administrative work to do. Their job will include making appointments for members of the public, filling out insurance forms, carrying out filing tasks, and typing up notes. The work will be both paper-based and on computer.
Public Face
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If based within a reception area at a practice, the optician’s assistant becomes the first point of call for the public as they enter the building, and thus the assistant will be expected to deal with people both face-to-face and over the phone, handling their enquiries and in some cases, trying to rectify problems as they arise, as noted by the WPS Optometrists website.
In addition, an optician’s assistant might aid patients at the clinic during their visit, for example by helping a patient choose frames for his glasses.
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Clinical and Repairs
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At some practices, the optician’s assistant will be more thoroughly involved in the actual work of the optician. This may involve aiding the optician as she performs tasks around the clinic, such as the fitting of contact lenses for a patient. Or, the optician’s assistant might receive training in particular tasks which will save other members of the team time; examples include minor frame repairs and frame preparation. Many opticians’ assistants are involved too in clinical testing, which includes aspects of an optician’s work such as blood pressure management, as described by the Matheson Optometrists website.
Some optician assistant jobs, such as those for Matheson Optometrists, offer training modules which cover more complex aspects of the work including contact lens assistance.
Qualities
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The optician’s assistant interacts directly with the public, and therefore he needs to be able to communicate clearly and efficiently with other people, as well as be able to relay information correctly to other members of the practice team. The optician assistant, personality-wise, should be helpful, good at multi-tasking, and able to retain his cool and be polite even in emergency situations.
Salary
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According to the PayScale website, an optician’s assistant typically earns in the region of $20,335 to $28,521 per annum, as of July 2010. This breaks down at roughly $9.63 to $13.05 per hour.
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References
- Photo Credit glasses image by PhotographerOne from Fotolia.com
