In focus: Profession responds to calls for doctor title

Optician readers have been reacting to last month’s article by Michael and Joshua Mandel, two pre-reg optometrists. They put forward an argument begging the important question of whether optometrists should have the title ‘doctor’. Responses have since flooded in from practitioners who agree that the use of the title would elevate the status of the profession and those who feel clinical skills still have some way to go. Below is a selection of the responses plus some comment sought by Optician from opinion formers and leading optometrists.

‘Doctor’. I have always struggled with this term. Considering the simple origin of the word and its use today, in multiple industries, it surrounds itself in ambiguity. However, within the community, I firmly agree that the term serves a purpose as an instantly recognisable title that the general public can identify with and hopefully, trust. Regrettably, the issue arises because there is a disparity between the meaning of the title ‘doctor’ and the commercially deformed landscape that the majority of optometrists find themselves in. When a patient presents to you waving a ‘free eye test’ voucher it should make you feel uncomfortable because as long as our time and expertise are being sold to the masses for free, we must concede that our training will always be undervalued and therefore the prefix is somewhat inconsequential.