| Important Core Job Duties (in order of importance) For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Conduct tonometry or tonography tests to measure intraocular pressure. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Maintain ophthalmic instruments or equipment. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Conduct ocular motility tests to measure function of eye muscles. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Conduct visual field tests to measure field of vision. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Administer topical ophthalmic or oral medications. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Measure and record lens power, using lensometers. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Measure visual acuity, including near, distance, pinhole, or dynamic visual acuity, using appropriate tests. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Take anatomical or functional ocular measurements of the eye or surrounding tissue, such as axial length measurements. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes. |
| Importance: 100 (%) | Description: Take and document patients' medical histories. |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery. |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Clean or sterilize ophthalmic or surgical instruments. |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Assist patients to insert or remove contact lenses. |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Conduct binocular disparity tests to assess depth perception. |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Measure corneal curvature with keratometers or ophthalmometers to aid in the diagnosis of conditions, such as astigmatism. |
| Importance: 91 (%) | Description: Assess refractive conditions of eyes, using retinoscopes. |
| Importance: 86 (%) | Description: Instruct patients in the care and use of contact lenses. |
| Importance: 86 (%) | Description: Call patients to inquire about their post-operative status or recovery. |
Emergency Medical Services Careers and Jobs
Select, Find and Prepare for Emergency Medical Services Careers and Jobs - all on one page
For people who want fast-paced, hands-on emergency medical work without a multi-year nursing or medical degree. Use the tools below to see which emergency medical services roles fit your background and goals.
This field has a clear, tiered licensure ladder (EMT to Paramedic) that directly determines scope of practice and pay. Use the tools below to explore Emergency Medical Services-related job titles sorted by growth rate, salary, or required education. You can start with entry points like EMT-Basic, or look ahead to advanced roles such as Paramedic or Flight Paramedic. Along the way, you will see specific certifications, such as National Registry EMT (NREMT) / Paramedic License, that can help you move up the career ladder.
Here is a short Helper Video 
This page will take you through 4 steps to (1) Select from Emergency Medical Services careers/jobs, (2) Find Emergency Medical Services job listings, (3) Prepare for Emergency Medical Services careers, and (4) Provide Emergency Medical Services career-specific resources.
Step 1: Select a Career/Job: This page starts with 4 ways for you to identify and select from listings of Emergency Medical Services careers/jobs:
A) Fastest Growing Emergency Medical Services Careers - 2025 to 2035 (est.)
These listings are based on job growth estimates and helps you to identify the fastest growing and evolving Emergency Medical Services careers. Some careers may not initially seem related to Emergency Medical Services, so relevant Emergency Medical Services jobs are listed alongside each listing. This can also help us to identify which careers (bottom of the listing) may have negative growth - perhaps due to automation or planned obsolescence.
B) Median Annual Salary U.S. Emergency Medical Services Careers
These listings are sorted (descending) by median annual salary in the U.S. This may help us to identify our ideal career. We may not qualify at this time for the desired career, but this listing and the results provided can help us to explore job details, as well as learn how to appropriately prepare for the career.
C) Emergency Medical Services Career Ladders (Educational Requirements)
These listings will help us to identify Emergency Medical Services careers sorted by educational requirements (with the most difficult to obtain listed first). This may help us to identify career ladders (as we scroll down the list), and help us to get jobs that we qualify for now.
D) Select From a Listing of 33 Emergency Medical Services Jobs.
The list may be quite long. There are two ways you might like to use this list:
1) Filter - As you enter a word, you will filter (limit) the list of job titles
2) Browse the list (Don't Filter) - You can simply explore the list of job titles. There may be many that you might never have considered to be of interest.
Once you have identified a job title of interest, simply click on it.
Step 2: Find a Job: After you have selected a career/job title above, you will see a form asking for your location. You will see several radio selection choices to utilize the job search site of your choice.
Step 3: Prepare For a Career: In this section you will gain access to detailed information to help you prepare for the chosen career. Information may include (not every career choice includes all of the elements below - updates occur quarterly):
Core Duties: Lists the primary worker-related tasks performed in this occupation
Supplemental Duties: Lists additional tasks that are performed but are secondary to the core duties
Work Activities: Summarizes the broad types of behaviors and actions related to this career
Specific Work Activities: Provides more granular day-to-day activities tied to the work performed
Essential Skills: Provides foundational skills that are core to performing this specific occupation
Transferable Skills: Provides career-portable skills that can be applied across multiple occupations and industries
Day-in-the-Life Summaries: Provides a snapshot of the key activities performed on a typical workday in this career
Knowledge Required: Provides the requirements regarding the acquisition of facts and principles
Software Skills: Lists software tools commonly used in this occupation, organized by category and priority
Preparation Required: Provides a summary of the required experience and education
Education Required: Detailed breakdown of the education required
Training and Experience Required: Detailed breakdown of the training and Training and Experience Required
Local Salary Information: Provides national and local salary ranges
Certifications: Provides appropriate government and private-sector certifications and/or credentials that may be required
Professional Associations: Provides professional associations that are related to the career selected
Job Listings: Provides links to active current job listings for the selected career, along with multiple similar job titles to explore. All information appears on this page without navigating away.
Related Careers to Consider: Lists up to 20 careers that might be of interest to you (related to your initial choice - what they do, what they know, and what they're called), ranked by best fit.
** If you clicked on a link from section D (as described in Step 1 above), you will see one or more links to an occupation that is usually a bit more general than your initial job selection - the link(s) is directly related to the specific job you identified through your prior selections.
*NOTE: It is possible that there may not be a career path identified for the specific job you selected in Step 1. If this is the case, scroll up the page and click on a different career/job.
Step 4: Career-Specific Resources (detailed and constantly updated): Continue to scroll down the page and you will find tabs that provide detailed (updated) links specific to the career you selected. This information includes:
Videos: Provides a listing of video links related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes: Sources for resume materials and techniques. This can help to get you started.
Job Description: Sources that provide job descriptions, which are vital to resume and interview preparation.
Interviews: Provides links that can help you to prepare for and successfully complete the job interview. Can also assist with coffee chats.
Step by Step: Provides links to resources that can help to organize the career search process.
LinkedIn: One of the best professional social media sites that provides links, opportunities, and networking specifically for careers and career development.
Step 1 of 4: Select a Career/Job
10 Emergency Medical Services careers are listed below (sorted by Percentage Change in Total Job Openings - 2025 to 2035 est.). Emergency Medical Services-related jobs specific to each career are also provided. This shows which careers are emerging and growing the fastest. Please Scroll and Select below:
| Occupations | U.S. Job Openings 2025-2035 (% change) | Emergency Medical Services-Related Jobs |
11 Emergency Medical Services careers are listed below (sorted by U.S. National Median Salary). Emergency Medical Services-related jobs specific to each occupation are also provided. Please Scroll and Select below::
| Occupations | National Median Salary | Emergency Medical Services-Related Jobs |
11 Emergency Medical Services careers are listed (sorted by Education/Preparation Requirements - descending) to provide career ladders. Emergency Medical Services-related jobs specific to each career are also provided.
|
Education/Preparation Categories: 5 = Usually requires graduate school (e.g., Master's degree, Ph.D., M.D., or J.D.) 4 = Usually requires a four-year Bachelor's degree 3 = Usually requires vocational training, related on-the-job experience, or Associate's degree 2 = Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, but not always Please Scroll and Select below: |
||
| Occupations | Education/Preparation | Emergency Medical Services-Related Jobs |
Scroll through the picklist (below). There are 33 specific Emergency Medical Services job titles listed. Select those that may be of interest - you will get active job listing links, along with detailed resources to help you prepare for a career related to that job.
You can use this form two ways:
Filter - As you enter a keyword, you will filter (limit) the list of job titles below
Browse the list (Don't Filter) - You can simply explore the list of job titles. There may be many that you might never have considered to be of interest.
OR - leave blank and scroll through the choices:
Select a Job Title (Scroll and Select) :
Step 2 of 4: Find a Job
Find Job Listings:
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians.
Step 3 of 4: Prepare For a Career
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
Description: Assist ophthalmologists by performing ophthalmic clinical functions. May administer eye exams, administer eye medications, and instruct the patient in care and use of corrective lenses.
Please click on a section below to expand and see detailed occupational information related to "Ophthalmic Medical Technicians":
U.S. Total Employment (2025):
72,500U.S. Total Employment (2035 est.):
88,000
Employment Change (2025-2035 est.):
15,500 (21.4%) Average Annual Job Openings (2025-2035 est.):
11,800
Core Duties
Supplemental Duties
| Important Supplemental Job Duties (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 48 (%) | Description: Assist patients to select eyewear. |
| Importance: 36 (%) | Description: Adjust or make minor repairs to spectacles or eyeglasses. |
Work Activities
| Important General Work Activities (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 91 (%) | Description: Getting Information: Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Importance: 91 (%) | Description: Performing for or Working Directly with the Public: Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. |
| Importance: 90 (%) | Description: Assisting and Caring for Others: Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients. |
| Importance: 87 (%) | Description: Documenting/Recording Information: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. |
| Importance: 82 (%) | Description: Working with Computers: Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Importance: 82 (%) | Description: Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge: Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
| Importance: 79 (%) | Description: Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates: Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
| Importance: 79 (%) | Description: Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| Importance: 76 (%) | Description: Training and Teaching Others: Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. |
| Importance: 74 (%) | Description: Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events: Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. |
| Importance: 72 (%) | Description: Processing Information: Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards: Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials: Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. |
| Importance: 67 (%) | Description: Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others: Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. |
| Importance: 66 (%) | Description: Developing and Building Teams: Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work: Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. |
| Importance: 64 (%) | Description: Coaching and Developing Others: Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills. |
| Importance: 62 (%) | Description: Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings: Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. |
| Importance: 62 (%) | Description: Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others: Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. |
| Importance: 62 (%) | Description: Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others: Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others. |
Specific Work Activities
| Important Specific Work Activities
How can you begin to build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. Specific Work Activities appear below: |
|
| Administer non-intravenous medications. | |
| Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery. | |
| Clean medical equipment or facilities. | |
| Collect medical information from patients, family members, or other medical professionals. | |
| Fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other vision aids. | |
| Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment. | |
| Maintain medical equipment or instruments. | |
| Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients. | |
| Monitor patients following surgeries or other treatments. | |
| Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment. | |
| Recommend types of assistive devices. | |
| Record patient medical histories. | |
| Sterilize medical equipment or instruments. | |
| Test patient vision. | |
Knowledge Required
| Knowledge Required (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 85 (%) | Description: Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. |
| Importance: 82 (%) | Description: Medicine and Dentistry: Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures. |
| Importance: 78 (%) | Description: English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. |
Essential Skills
| Essential Skills (in order of importance)
These are the foundational skills most central to success in this occupation. For the Top 5 most important, how can you begin building experience and confidence using these skills now? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 60 (%) | Description: Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
| Importance: 54 (%) | Description: Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience. |
Transferable Skills
| Transferable Skills (in order of importance)
These are skills that can transfer across occupations and industries. For the Top 5 most important, how can you strengthen these skills now so they support both this career and future career flexibility? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people. |
Day-in-the-Life Summaries
| Day-in-the-Life Summaries These summaries show the main types of activities you are likely to perform on a regular basis in this occupation. How can you imagine your typical workday — using these examples to see if this type of work fits you? |
| Activity: Administer basic health care or medical treatments. |
| Activity: Administer diagnostic tests to assess patient health. |
| Activity: Advise others on products or services. |
| Activity: Assist healthcare practitioners during medical procedures. |
| Activity: Clean medical equipment or facilities. |
| Activity: Collect information about patients or clients. |
| Activity: Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristics. |
| Activity: Fit assistive devices to patients or clients. |
| Activity: Maintain health or medical records. |
| Activity: Maintain medical equipment or instruments. |
| Activity: Monitor health conditions of humans or animals. |
| Activity: Operate medical equipment. |
| Activity: Train others to use equipment or products. |
Software Skills
|
Software Skills These are examples of software tools commonly used in this occupation, organized from most to least important for your career preparation. How can you start learning or practicing the highest-priority tools so that you feel confident using them on the job? |
|||||||
| High-Priority Tech Skills | |||||||
| Spreadsheet software: | |||||||
| Microsoft Excel | |||||||
| Emerging Tech Skills | |||||||
| Electronic mail software: | |||||||
| Microsoft Outlook | |||||||
| Office suite software: | |||||||
| Microsoft Office software | |||||||
| Presentation software: | |||||||
| Microsoft PowerPoint | |||||||
| Word processing software: | |||||||
| Microsoft Word | |||||||
| General Software Tools | |||||||
| Electronic mail software: | |||||||
| Email software | |||||||
| Internet browser software: | |||||||
| Web browser software | |||||||
| Medical software (scroll table below): | |||||||
|
Preparation Required
| Preparation Required - How much preparation is needed to obtain this type of job? |
| Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed |
| Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job. |
| Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. |
| Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations. |
| These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include hydroelectric production managers, desktop publishers, electricians, agricultural technicians, barbers, court reporters and simultaneous captioners, and medical assistants. |
Education Required
| Education Required - by frequency of educational attainment This shows you details about the level of education most commonly held by workers in this occupation. How can you begin planning the educational pathway that will prepare you best for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Education |
| Frequency of Attainment: 59.1 (%) | Level of Education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 27.3 (%) | Level of Education: Post-Secondary Certificate |
| Frequency of Attainment: 9.1 (%) | Level of Education: Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree |
| Frequency of Attainment: 4.6 (%) | Level of Education: Some College Courses |
Training and Experience Required
| Training and Experience Required - by frequency of training and work experience attainment This section shows you how often different types of training and work experience are required for this occupation. How can you start gaining the kinds of experience and training that are most common for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience |
| Frequency of Attainment: 40.9 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 27.3 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: None |
| Frequency of Attainment: 18.2 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year |
| Frequency of Attainment: 13.6 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years |
Local Salary Information
Select a State (scroll and Select) :
Please select a State to see State and National Salaries
Certifications
| Certifications These are examples of certifications that may be important for this occupation. How can you begin exploring which certifications fit your goals and what steps you would need to take to earn them? |
|
|
|
|
Certified Ophthalmic Technician
| |
|
Certified Paraoptometric Assistant
| |
|
Certified Paraoptometric Coder
| |
|
Certified Paraoptometric Technician
| |
Job Listings
| Job Listings and Similar Occupational Titles - scroll and click to identify common requirements, keywords, and skills in current job listings |
Related Careers to Consider
Step 4 of 4: Career-Specific Resources
This section contains detailed external resources appropriate to "Ophthalmic Medical Technicians". Explore these resources to start learning more. Links are constantly updated, so bookmark this page.
Videos
Here is a listing of videos related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes
Here are resources that allow you to see example resumes for this occupation. It may be helpful to see examples from others who have this type of experience.
Job Description
Here are resources that provide job descriptions, which are vital for resume and interview preparation.
Interviews
There are many great resources that can help guide you through the interview process. These links provide help in preparing and performing an effective interview, specific to this occupation.
Step-by-Step
Here are links to help guide you, step-by-step, to become a(n): Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
LinkedIn®
Here are links to various posts and groups from LinkedIn ® that relate to this occupation. Great way to start building professional contacts in the field that might be most appropriate for you.
Developed by Dr. Ralph Jagodka, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus of Business Management at Mt. San Antonio College and author of the Harvard Business Impact article "What to Do When Students Ask You for Career Advice." - Full bio. © 2026 About This Page
© 2026 - Disclaimer - Privacy