Abstract
BackgroundA two-year optometry technician (OT) training was started in Eritrea in 2009 to fulfill the immediate human resource needs in providing refractive, dispensing and primary eye care services in vision centers. This study aimed to assess the current practice pattern and confidence level among the OTs.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire was developed and administered to all available OTs in January 2017. The OTs were identified through the Ministry of Health’s database. The questionnaire included questions on demographics, scope of practice and confidence level in the clinical practice areas.ResultsA total of 94 OTs had graduated by the end of 2016 and 71 (75.5%) of them were involved in the country’s eye care services. All the 70 OTs who completed the survey were working under the Ministry of Health in various regions of the country. The mean age of the OTs was 25.6 ± 4.7 years (range: 20 to 48 years) and 43 (61.4%) of them were male. Four out of six regions in the country lacked the required number of OTs for the recommended ratio of one refractionist to 50,000 population. All the OTs provided refraction services; however, they lacked experience in dispensing (62.9%), clinical examination of patients (35.7%) and low vision care (4.3%). While the OTs expressed confidence in refractive procedures, low levels of confidence were expressed for dispensing and primary eye care services.ConclusionOTs contributed to the primary eye care sector in Eritrea. However, high attrition rate, imbalanced distribution, a limited practice in core areas and low clinical confidence were the key challenges for this profession in this country. With better facilities, improved infrastructure and extended education and career opportunities, the two-year trained OTs could potentially serve further in the Eritrean eye care system. Further studies to evaluate the competency, job satisfaction and effectiveness OTs are recommended.
Highlights
Introduction to low visionDispensing Optics IDispensing Optics IIOcular Anatomy and PhysiologyBasic Ocular DiseasePhysiological OpticsPublic Health and Community OptometryClinical Optometry ProcedureClinical Hospital Practice aOne introduction to optometry course (3 credit hours) is offered in second semester b3 clinical credit hours is equivalent to 12 h per week of hospital placementCredit hours 4 3 4 2 2 3b were considered ‘confident’
The confidence scores for each of the five domains were calculated as the percentage score of total domain score
Using binary logistic regression analysis, we examined the relationship between confidence on each job skill and participant characteristics including age, sex, current work Zoba and active job duration
Summary
Introduction to low visionDispensing Optics IDispensing Optics IIOcular Anatomy and PhysiologyBasic Ocular DiseasePhysiological OpticsPublic Health and Community OptometryClinical Optometry ProcedureClinical Hospital Practice aOne introduction to optometry course (3 credit hours) is offered in second semester b3 clinical credit hours is equivalent to 12 h per week of hospital placementCredit hours 4 3 4 2 2 3b were considered ‘confident’. A two-year optometry technician (OT) training was started in Eritrea in 2009 to fulfill the immediate human resource needs in providing refractive, dispensing and primary eye care services in vision centers. The Diploma in Optometric Technician program was started in 2009 at Asmara College of Health Sciences with the support of Brien Holden Vision Institute and the Ministry of Health, Eritrea (MoH). These OTs are expected to provide category II services (Visual Function Services) based on the World Council of Optometry’s Global Competency-Based Model of Scope of Practice in Optometry [8]. Students are selected from a national pool of applicants based on their high school grades
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