Ophthalmic Assistant - Ophthalmology (Medical Center)

Overview

At Houston Methodist, the Ophthalmic Assistant (OA) is responsible for providing the highest quality customer service in assisting the physician and other technical support personnel with patient examination and treatment. Other duties for this position include patient history, office and inpatient diagnostic tests, in-office procedures as well as some clerical duties. The OA position independently and expertly performing the duties and responsibilities of clinical resource to other OAs, training and orienting others as appropriate. This position delivers exceptional patient care per guidelines established by the department to ensure optimal patient safety and customer service and practices Patient and Family-Centered Care.

Houston Methodist Standard

PATIENT AGE GROUP(S) AND POPULATION(S) SERVEDRefer to departmental "Scope of Service" and "Provision of Care" plans, as applicable, for description of primary age groups and populations served by this job for the respective HM entity.

HOUSTON METHODIST EXPERIENCE EXPECTATIONS

• Provide personalized care and service by consistently demonstrating our I CARE values:
  • INTEGRITY: We are honest and ethical in all we say and do.
  • COMPASSION: We embrace the whole person including emotional, ethical, physical, and spiritual needs.
  • ACCOUNTABILITY: We hold ourselves accountable for all our actions.
  • RESPECT: We treat every individual as a person of worth, dignity, and value.
  • EXCELLENCE: We strive to be the best at what we do and a model for others to emulate.

• Practices the Caring and Serving Model

• Delivers personalized service using HM Service Standards

• Provides for exceptional patient/customer experiences by following our Standards of Practice of always using Positive Language (AIDET, Managing Up, Key Words)

• Intentionally collaborates with other healthcare professionals involved in patients/customers or employees' experiential journeys to ensure strong communication, ease of access to information, and a seamless experience

• Involves patients (customers) in shift/handoff reports by enabling their participation in their plan of care as applicable to the given job

• Actively supports the organization's vision, fulfills the mission and abides by the I CARE values

Responsibilities

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Utilizes courteous and professional interpersonal skills to establish and maintain rapport with patients, physicians/office personnel and various hospital personnel, while maintaining patient confidentiality. Facilitates open, professional, communication to achieve mutual understanding, role modeling by example.

• Functions as a team member, responding willingly and positively to colleagues' needs for assistance and partnership and promotes a positive work environment that actively assists interprofessional care team to achieve optimal department results. Makes contributions to the work effort, by initiating problem resolution within the work unit.

• Provides contributions towards improvement of department scores for turnover/retention/employee engagement, i.e. peer-to-peer accountability.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Screens walk-in patients, emergency patients and triages telephone calls from patients and referring physicians to determine appropriate physician and priority of appointments.

• Directs the flow of patients examined by the physician; obtains medical and personal data for patient charts; alleviates patient and family concerns by explaining diagnostic procedures and method of treatment.

• Performs preliminary screening examinations, excluding ocular, for physician review including, but not limited to, central and peripheral visual field tests; ocular motility tests; color vision tests; pharmacological pupil tests; tonometry, tonography and tensilon tonography tests to determine intraocular pressure and pupil testing for size, equality and reaction prior to dilation.

• Screens patients for conditions by examining the cornea, lens and anterior chamber of the eye using a slit lamp and notes variations from normal for physician review.

• Arranges for laboratory and other tests, ophthalmic photography, inpatient and outpatient studies and patient admissions and surgery as requested by physician.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Measures acuity of patient, with and without glasses, for distance and near vision; obtains optical and lensometry measurements to determine lens prescription and correct acuity problems; records findings on patient chart.

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