Innovation at the service of Vision: enhancing the role of optometrists.

Wednesday 07 February 2024
Corentin Auffret

Alarm bells rang, lawyers were contacted and the bylaws were amended. "Hardly serious", "a threat to the profession" and "a danger to eye health" are just some of the comments we gathered on social networks.

” The alarm sounded, the lawyers were contacted and the articles of association were amended.

This is how the OPTIKEREN article by Okkult CEO Caroline Branzén and shareholder Petter Hagfors begins. The changes to the articles of association are causing some gnashing of teeth, described as “unserious”, “threats to the profession” and “dangers to eye health” according to various comments on social networks. But what is it about Okkult that makes the industry’s warning lights go on? Certain factors stand out… Yet at Okkult, this revolution in optics seems to be the key to the future. So, what exactly is it that’s causing the industry’s warning lights to come on?

What status for an optometrist?

One of the main reasons for this is the debate surrounding the delegation of tasks to trained assistants. While in many healthcare sectors it is common practice to delegate tasks to trained assistants, at Okkult this approach is meeting with resistance. Allowing trained assistants to handle routine examinations and sales frees up valuable time for optometrists, who can then devote more time to complex examinations.

A study by Lundmark and Luraas (2017) reveals that Norwegian optometrists carry out an average of seven examinations a day, of which only 3.6% require referral to a specialist, i.e. around every 28 examinations. These figures highlight the need to optimize optometrists’ time by freeing them from simpler tasks and directing them towards specialist examinations.

Technology offers opportunities, not challenges.

” We also believe that new technology in the sector will not make optometrists unemployed,” write Okkult’s directors. The technological revolution in the optical sector is not to be feared, but embraced. Okkult is banking on the integration of AI and data-driven refraction to simplify patients’ lives while making optometrists’ lives more flexible. The precision of data-assisted refraction, when used by trained staff, offers a familiar experience for customers while optimizing the process.

The customer benefits from faster treatment, less fatigue, and is offered optimal correction. The result is a significant reduction in the rate of lens and spectacle re-fabrication, for a more precise adaptation to the customer’s correction.

In a highly competitive optical market, where the emphasis is increasingly on creating a coherent customer experience, the integration of innovative diagnostic software within optometrist teams is becoming a true customer experience.

The use of Artificial Intelligence software for eye exams.

Okkult has chosen the services of SiVIEW® to integrate a major innovation into its refraction practices. Thanks to SiVIEW®’s SiviewExam® software, Okkult’s healthcare professionals can now perform accurate, reproducible eye exams. Based on two clinical studies, this software leverages artificial intelligence to offer optimal personalization in the eye examination process. This collaboration underlines Okkult’s commitment to embracing the latest technological advances to enhance the patient experience, while enabling optometrists to focus on more complex and specialized examinations.

It is crucial that the industry takes these technological developments seriously, and discusses their impact on optometrists’ working conditions. Ignoring these advances could be a strategic mistake, recalling the stories of giants like Kodak and Nokia who failed to anticipate major changes in their sector.

Okkult, an avant-garde channel

Speaking of innovation, Okkult offers a free eye check-up, with no commitment or obligation to buy. This initiative has met with mixed reactions from traditional optometrists, who have often associated personal value with the cost of the examination. However, Okkult defends the concept that value lies in consistent monthly income, job relevance, and well-being at work.

With SiVIEW®, Okkult enables its employees to devote more time to what they have been trained to do, and less time to routine tasks and sales. The hope is that this will make for a more exciting and professionally stimulating day-to-day life, and enable them to put their expertise to best use for patients.

In 2022, the industry generated around 6 billion, and with just 0.06% of that, Okkult has already shaken the foundations of the status quo. The commitment persists to challenge established norms, improve the patient journey, and above all, enable optometrists to focus on what they do best: being optometrists. Okkult has blazed a trail where innovation and tradition come together to deliver an optimal visual experience, proving that the future of visual health is in the expert hands of optometrists.

→ Article written following the publication of issue 4 OPTIKEREN ” Let optometrists be optometrists ” written by Caroline Branzén CEO at Okkult and Petter Hagfors, shareholder at Okkult.

Editor: Corentin Auffret.