Careers in Eye Care with Mitzi Thomas

In this episode, Pierre Michiels interviews Mitzi Thomas. Mitzi Thomas is the Department Chair and Assistant Professor of the Ophthalmic Technician Program at College of DuPage. In the interview, they discuss the ophthalmic technician career path, the differences between eye care assistant and ophthalmic technician roles, the education and training required for the field, key skills such as communication, attention to detail, and critical thinking, and how hands-on clinical experiences help prepare students for successful careers in eye care. After listening to this episode, we hope you have a better understanding of the ophthalmic technician profession and the educational pathways available to enter this growing healthcare field. 

Full episode transcript can be found on the episode page. Below is a general timestamp summary.  

00:00 - 02:24 | Guest Introduction and Career Journey 
Host Pierre Michiels welcomes listeners and introduces Mitzi Thomas, Department Chair and Assistant Professor of the Ophthalmic Technician Program at College of DuPage. Mitzi shares her professional background, including her experience as an ophthalmic technician, work in hospital systems, and her role in launching the college's ophthalmic technician program. 

02:24 - 08:25 | Understanding the Ophthalmic Technician Career Path 
Mitzi explains the ophthalmic technician profession, including responsibilities such as diagnostic testing, patient care, imaging, and supporting ophthalmologists. She discusses the Eye Care Assistant Certificate and Ophthalmic Technician AAS pathways at COD, compares these options to becoming an ophthalmologist, and highlights how students can enter the field quickly while still exploring long-term healthcare careers. 

08:25 - 11:53 | Essential Skills for Success in Eye Care 
The conversation shifts to the skills needed for the profession. Mitzi emphasizes adaptability, communication, attention to detail, documentation accuracy, and critical thinking. She explains how technicians interact closely with patients and must think proactively when evaluating patient information and vision changes. 

11:53 - 16:54 | Hands-On Learning and Program Preparation 
Mitzi describes how students develop professional competencies through clinical placements, externships, laboratory experiences, simulations, and electronic health record training. She explains how the program blends classroom instruction with real-world application to build confidence and career readiness. 

16:54 - 19:49 | Career Exploration and Program Resources 
As the episode concludes, Mitzi encourages students to remain open-minded when exploring healthcare careers and to consider alternative pathways if initial plans change. She discusses advising sessions, open house opportunities, and resources available through the program for prospective students interested in learning more about eye care careers. 

19:49 - 20:23 | Closing Remarks 
Pierre thanks Mitzi for joining the podcast, shares information about submitting listener questions, and concludes the episode by encouraging listeners to continue exploring career pathways in healthcare and ophthalmic technology. 

Resources Discussed:  

Contact: Mitzi Thomas thomasm90@cod.edu for program questions 

College of DuPage Ophthalmic Technician Program web page  

College of DuPage Eye Care Assistant Program web page 

Listeners in the College of DuPage community can visit our website. All other listeners are encouraged to view the resources of their local community college, WIOA training programs, or other local support centers.

Send us YOUR Listener Questions at careerpodcast@cod.edu

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn @codcareercenter

Transcript

Pierre Michiels: Welcome to the Career Ready Podcast. Learn about resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn interviewing, and all things newbie Career Ready with the Career Service Center at College DuPage. I'm your host, Pierre Michiels, for today's episode. In addition to learning about resources and the job search process, important part of being career ready is understanding career paths. To help us explore the field of Ophthalmic Technician, I have Mitzi Thomas with me, who works as a department chair and assistant professor here at College DuPage. 

Mitzi Thomas: Thanks, Pierre, for having me on today. 

Pierre Michiels: Nice. Thanks, for being here. I'm excited to learn a little bit more about the field and what you're doing to prepare, students and, developing professionals for the field. But before we get into that, can we just start off with a little introduction, or as we'd like to call it, your elevator pitch? 

Mitzi Thomas: Oh, sure, no problem. So, yeah, I've been, with the college now for… this is approaching my ninth year as a full-time faculty and chair. And I started off in a similar program to what we run at the college, a two-year associate's degree program in ophthalmic Technician at one of our schools in the area, and I got the privilege of working In a hospital system, right after the program, and did a lot of clinical ophthalmology. And then, Works at a few different hospital systems, and just have had the privilege of, you know, working with some of our industry partners in ophthalmology and eye care. And, eventually gravitated towards the training and teaching side of things. So, that's kind of how I branched out from the clinic. And then had the opportunity to start the ophthalmic Technician program, actually, 9 years ago, at COD, so… That is how I'm here. 

Pierre Michiels: Okay. Well, thank you for that. I didn't realize that you were kind of an origin source. or the program. So, really excited to hear, what you have to say, and, you know, how you've, incorporated that professionalism that you noticed through the field, and you bring that to the program. So can you just talk a little bit about the ophthalmic technician field and the different career paths that this could lead towards? 

Mitzi Thomas: Yeah, absolutely. So… Ophthalmology is the big branch of medicine, that ophthalmic technicians primarily work in. So, ophthalmology is… where we're focusing on eye care and any specialty that lies in there. So… we, you know, they'll… the ophthalmologist is the doctor that we're working under, our primary MD, and they do routine eye exams and whatnot, but then they also will specialize in surgery. They'll focus on the diseases of the eyes, and so our… My role as an ophthalmic technician is to support The ophthalmologist, and then helping them with any of the testing, so a lot of diagnostic testing we do. We can help in the surgery arena, if that's something that we chose to do. We can help with minor procedures, and we do a lot of imaging and a lot of diagnostic testing, so basically our job is to Make the ophthalmologist's life a lot easier, but then also our job is to help our patients in helping them restore their vision, keeping up with their eye health. And, our programs at COD, we have two pathways, so we have the Eye Care Assistant Certificate Program, so everyone comes in. As, an eye care assistant program, candidate, and then that's 3 semesters long, and that's an entry level. If the student would like to also get their associate's degree and then get into the next level of certification, then they would move forward with the ophthalmic Technician AAS degree. So those are the two chairs that we have right now. 

Pierre Michiels: So we have those two paths here at COD. So the assistant, that certificate. It's like a year and a half, three semesters, right? 

Mitzi Thomas: semesters. 

Pierre Michiels: And then the technician, the associate, that's… 

Mitzi Thomas: Finally. 

Pierre Michiels: 5 semesters total, right? And then… Can we just compare that? Like, if you want to be the doctor, how much education is that? 

Mitzi Thomas: Being a doctor is a lot more education, so a doctor would go through regular medical school, so, that could be after their undergrad that they might be applying, or maybe it's a straight program. So, you would do medicine, and then do a residency, specifically in ophthalmology. And then, after your residency year, you might also want to do a fellowship to specialize in a specific part of the eye. So, let's say you want to specialize in the cornea, or if you want to specialize On the retina, that would be an additional training. So… Ophthalmic technician program is pretty much a fraction of that. But with that being said, you know, our doctors are very, very bright, very smart, very educated, and so they are looking for people to work with them that are kind of at that same level, right? That really care about those critical skills, and just looking into, you know, those, Really being detail-oriented, because we are dealing with the eyes, and a lot of the measurements that we take are very specific. And especially if it's related to surgery, and maybe a person needing to have a specific type of surgery to correct their vision, we're looking for measurements, and so those are very, you know, it's very pertinent that those measurements are accurate, so… A lot of our training is basically focusing on those aspects. 

Pierre Michiels: And I just wanted to ask that, right, to really illustrate that if this is an area, a field that you're interested in getting into, you do have options. There are some that will let you actually get in there, start working, earning money a whole lot sooner. Or you could take years and years and years to study, and then eventually get there, right? So that's, why I just wanted to kind of… Point out that contrast of being able to enter the field versus needing to take many years before you could really start, working in the field. 

Mitzi Thomas: Right. Yeah, and we do get, students who come into our programs who start off, thinking that maybe they do eventually down the line want to do medical school, or even optometry school. I know we haven't discussed that yet, but they think that maybe they would want to do that, but they also just want to know what the field is about before committing to a long-term optometry or medical program. So, it's a nice way to get your feet in the door and just really understanding if this is something that you wanted to invest in many years. And I'll be honest. Most of our students decide, then that they would like to stay, being an ophthalmic technician, because they do get a great job once they graduate, and they're thinking, well, why do I need to have that responsibility? And then also that added education and tuition is… is not… cheap, right? So, so that ends up being a factor, too, as students are kind of weighing down their options. 

Pierre Michiels: So it sounds like if someone were to get into this path, starting off as a technician and working as a technician as you continue on in med school and everything. is an option. It gets you started in the field. But a lot of times. If this is something you're really interested in, you realize that the technician role is a really satisfying, spot to be working at. 

Mitzi Thomas: Correct. 

Pierre Michiels: So, as we, think of the field, what skills or strengths do you see students, needing to succeed, not just in the program, but then as they do enter the field? 

Mitzi Thomas: Fair. So, first of all, just, like, an ICAN attitude. A lot of times. you know, this is your first, into the medical world, right? So… our students start our programs, and go into clinicals right away, actually, like, the first semester, very quickly, a few weeks into the program. So, it can be a little bit of overwhelming, right, in the beginning to see an atmosphere that you're not familiar with. So, I like to say, have a, can-do type of attitude, just to kind of take everything in that you're seeing, because you're there to learn, and even though, you know, the first few weeks might be a little difficult, just because you've never seen it before, you've never experienced it, it gets better. So that's… that's… and just in general, about… our programs, and then also kind of going into the workforce, because every place that you're going to go into is different, right? The way that they function might be a little bit different, their expectations might be a little bit different, so it's just nice to have a kind of an open mind there. Also, communication is very big in the medical world, so you're not only just communicating with your peers, your coworkers, but you're also communicating with patients, so… You know, these things might seem, obvious, but just kind of speaking up, right? Having a loud voice when you're talking. We do have Quite a bit of senior patients, and so, you know, a lot of people might be hard of hearing. And so you just want to make sure that you're clear when you're talking with patients, because as an ophthalmic technician, you're the person that is spending more time in that room than the doctor, because you're the person that's gathering all the history and the information. And then I mentioned detail-oriented, and, you know, kind of being clear with your documentation, that's super important. So, double-checking your work. If you're not sure if, something is accurate, you want to double-check it. You want to grab somebody In there to… to make sure that the work that you're documenting is… is correct. And then critical, critical skills are very important, critical thinking skills, so… you know, there's been many times I remember being in the field where a doctor will ask me a question, to see how I'm thinking, but then also probably to think, like, you know, hey, am I thinking the right way? You know, so it's… it's nice to have that kind of a relationship. So they like us to kind of think like them, because then we produce the work that they're looking for, right? So, kind of going above and beyond. So if you see something, let's say, for example, hey. The vision, is poor, but it's not horrible, but you've noticed a decrease from the last time that the patient was here, right? A… technician that would be using some of their critical thinking skills would think, well, I need to find out why that patient's vision has decreased, right? Versus just letting it go, because it's acceptable as far as, well, it's not a big change, but it's also a change, right? So… so just kind of looking More than just kind of the obvious and understanding, why behind what you're doing is important as well. 

Pierre Michiels: Well, it's good to hear about those skills. And it gets me curious, you know, as… they're a student, and then developing these skills to enter the field. Are there different experiences or opportunities that you recommend they seek out to prepare them for the field and start, you know, developing and enhancing these skill sets? 

Mitzi Thomas: Do you mean before they come into the program, or while they're in the program? 

Pierre Michiels: Probably more so while they're in the program, but, you know, if you have thoughts on both… 

Mitzi Thomas: Yeah. So a lot of times, you know, they're getting such great experience already because they are going into these externship and clinical opportunities, so the, you know, what's expected is… is expressed right away. Students have… competencies that they have to meet, not only in the clinical atmosphere, but then also in our lab environment. And so we test them on certain things because they have to be able to perform to be able to do the next course. So… As far as preparation is, studying the material that's given. A lot of times, you know, you might see it the first time, and then you're expected to start practicing it immediately, and so a lot of it is, like, going beyond what you're doing in the classroom, and also continuing to practice As… as you're going through each skill, just to make sure that you're doing it accurately, and if you have any questions and clarifications that you need, you want to make sure that you're reaching out to your instructors, you're reaching out to your clinical mentors, and the doctors that are in the clinical sites, just to make sure that you're on the right track. 

Pierre Michiels: And so you just mentioned some of these things, but if you could, maybe expand on them, and maybe there's more to it as well, along with those labs, those externships, those different clinicals, what are you doing in the program here at Couch Page to prepare students for the field? 

Mitzi Thomas: Yeah, so we are an accredited, ophthalmic technician program, so it's pretty strict as far as what the standards are on what we're supposed to do, so in a way, it's nice because our program is regulated by, having to show that our students have completed, you know, A through Z. So, each semester, we have a list of skills that they have to… basically demonstrate, demonstrate that they, they are competencied in it. And so, what we do as far as preparing them is we spend, our class schedule is, is, is where we're meeting once a week, in person. And so we spend, lecture and lab hours basically going through the concepts, in a didactic format, but then we're also, giving them a hands-on as well. And then they'll take that hands-on, and then apply that when they go into the clinical atmosphere. Now, sometimes, because our students are starting clinicals right away, they might not have even had a chance to practice it in the classroom setting, but they might be seeing it for the first time in an actual patient setting. So, sometimes that could be like, oh wow, you know, very exciting. Other times they might be a little bit of overwhelmed, it's like, oh my goodness, we haven't learned about this yet. what is this? But then, when they actually do have to get competency, or, you know, they do need to be tested out of it, they feel more comfortable, because it wasn't like they were being exposed to that, you know, only once. They had been seeing that kind of repeatedly, and then, so now then they're officially being asked to, to, you know, show how they're doing in that skill they feel comfortable. We also do a lot of, simulations with our students, so we have a lot of. Nice technology that helps us to be able to demonstrate that. We have an electronic health record, which is something that is used in patient care, and so we have a version of that, a student learning version of that, so that gives them kind of the real-life experience on what it's going to feel like when they're in clinic and in that environment. 

Pierre Michiels: It sounds like you, through the program, are providing a lot of great hands-on experiences, right? They're not just developing this knowledge base, but they're really getting to apply… What they're learning, and hopefully feeling comfortable and confident that you could enter the field and kind of hit the ground running. 

Mitzi Thomas: Right. And, you know, another part of this is to, in addition to myself, I have some great doctors who help me teach our programs, and so I like to, I don't want them to just get my version of it, right? I want them to get, a few different versions of it. So, I have an optometrist who is a doctor in optometry who helps teach our programs. I have… other certified, technicians, actually some that are even from out of state. They're not only in Illinois, so it's just really great because they get a really diverse perspective of, you know, the experiences that our instructors have, and so they're sharing those experiences with our students. 

Pierre Michiels: Alright, well, thank you for the information. As we kind of start winding down here, is there anything else you'd recommend to students or young professionals to prepare for the field? 

Mitzi Thomas: So, what I would recommend is, you know, a lot of times when you're looking at a medical program. There are a lot of programs that you're interested in, or maybe, you know, only have knowledge about, and so just kind of being a little open-minded to other programs that are out there. There are a lot of smaller programs out there. Azars is mentioned, Ophthalmic Technician and Eye Care, and you know, even if one program, let's say, you know, if… I don't want to put a specific example there, but let's say another program that you tried to get into in health sciences was difficult, right? And, you just weren't… it wasn't what you expected, and you're not meeting the goals that you have to do with that program. Don't give up, because there are many other programs in health sciences, and so it might just be as simple as you finding the one that fits your needs. I can't tell you how many times we get students in our programs that Plan A and Plan B didn't work out. And, and they never even had heard about the eye care program, right? So just kind of having that open mind to, be like, wait, there's a lot of similarities with this field than that other field that I was thinking about. So just kind of having an open mind and trying something new. Go on an advising session just to see what else is out there, because you might be surprised, there might be something else that fits, what your original interest was in coming into healthcare. 

Pierre Michiels: Alright, well, thank you for all this wonderful information. If someone wants to learn more about the programs here at College DuPage, how can a listener find that information? 

Mitzi Thomas: Yeah, so our web page, I'm not sure if we can, list that information. We'll have information about our programs. We do also have, multiple, advising sessions. We do group advising sessions, and then I try to get on as many individual advising sessions as possible, to be able to… and it's great because we spend about an hour with each student, just kind of going through all the details of the program, just to make sure that it's the right fit for you. And then we, always have open house events, throughout the year, so, just look for that information. And they can always email me if they're just trying to find out more information about the programs, and I'll get you to the right place. 

Pierre Michiels: Alright, well, I'll make sure your email and the webpage is here in the show notes, and then I'm guessing the webpage will also have the information about those advising sessions and open house? 

Mitzi Thomas: Correct. Yep. 

Pierre Michiels: Yep, you got it. Alright, so our listeners, just go find that webpage, to get more information. Thank you, Mitzi, so much for sharing this great information. 

Mitzi Thomas: Thanks, Pierre for the opportunity. Take care. 

Pierre Michiels: So, with today's episode, there is no listener question. However, if you have a question, you can submit it to careerpodcast@cod.edu, or on social media at COD Career Center, and you can hear it answered in a future episode. Thanks to all our listeners, and special thanks to Mitzi Thomas for joining the Career Ready Podcast. We hope you have a better understanding of Ophthalmology, and specifically the Ophthalmic Technician field.