# Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

> 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.

- **SOC code:** 29-2057.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-2057-00
- **Also known as:** Certified Ophthalmic Surgical Assistant, Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT), Ophthalmic Assistant, Ophthalmic Tech (Ophthalmic Technician), Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technician (Certified Ophthalmic Medical Tech), Certified Ophthalmic Technician-Surgical Assistant (COT-SA), Health Technician (Health Tech), Ophthalmic Diagnostic Sonographer
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Take and document patients' medical histories.
- Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.
- Conduct tonometry or tonography tests to measure intraocular pressure.
- Measure visual acuity, including near, distance, pinhole, or dynamic visual acuity, using appropriate tests.
- Take anatomical or functional ocular measurements of the eye or surrounding tissue, such as axial length measurements.
- Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.
- Administer topical ophthalmic or oral medications.
- Conduct visual field tests to measure field of vision.
- Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery.
- Measure corneal curvature with keratometers or ophthalmometers to aid in the diagnosis of conditions, such as astigmatism.
- Conduct ocular motility tests to measure function of eye muscles.
- Clean or sterilize ophthalmic or surgical instruments.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Order supplies.
- Perform examinations using ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Medicine and Dentistry _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speech Clarity _(ability)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Mathematics _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- AcuityPro
- Email software
- EyeMD EMR Healthcare Systems EyeMD EMR
- ezChartWriter
- iChartPlus
- Medflow Complete
- MediPro Medisoft Clinical

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 32nd percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 50th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 50th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 1st percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 19.8% growth (Growing fast); 12.5k annual openings; 78.8k → 94.4k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $44,080; 76,520 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-2057-00_