From Good to Great
What makes a great professional? We go to school, study
hard and get good marks. We apply our skills and knowledge
to a licensing exam and SHAZAM! We are professionals.
If someone passes with a minimum requirement or if they
achieve the top of the class, how would the client know?
Should they know? The concept is that the professional has
demonstrated they have the competence to gain entrance
into the profession. The public is protected by these standards.
So as life continues, we learn and grow in our profession
from apprenticeship and mentoring. We practice and hone
our skills on an ongoing basis and maintain our competency to
practice through continuing education.
All that said, does this make us a great Optician? Are we
doing the most we can do to ensure that we are working at
the top of our profession? How do we know when we have
achieved the greatness we all should want? Certainly the
public member that walks into a lawyers’ office does not ask
for the least competent one in the office? "Can I see a lawyer?
Oh anyone will do, as long as they got a 50% on the test."
This may seem an exaggeration, but in the end the person
wants the best lawyer. We all want to see the best doctor
and have the best teacher educating our children. We don't
want to think of ourselves being serviced by a "ne'er-do-well"
(Newfoundland expression...Google it).
We as Opticians have an amazing level of pride. When we
talk to members of the Opticians Association of Canada
(OAC) at events, we hear stories of success. Giving the gift
of clear vision to the young and old is a blessing and
Opticians are consumed by the feeling of euphoria when
we dispense this gift.
42 Optical Prism | April 2017
The OAC wants to help Opticians show the vision care
consumer that our members have achieved the highest rank
of professionalism and skills in the country. We want to show
the world our members are GREAT Opticians, that have
taken their education seriously and are practicing in the
top of the field.
The OAC is in the developmental stages of creating the next
level in education being offered to Opticians. The Ophthalmic
Dispensing Master Program will offer to the Dispensing
Optician a CE certificate under the initials OACM (OAC
Master). The program will consist of 18 hours of in-person
learning offered over three years a