Patient vs. Doctor: Perspective of ABO Certification

Background: Currently optometrists in Michigan are required to pass their boards through the National Board of Examiners in Optometry exams upon graduation as well as maintaining a set amount of continuing education credit in order to retain their license. In recent memory there has been more certification programs being introduced into the profession. This research project was created in order to investigate whether board certification, beyond our standard licensing parameters for optometrists, is important to not only optometrists themselves, but also to the patients they serve. Methods: A short survey with an educational excerpt on both the current NBEO (National Board of Examiners in Optometry) certification and the ABO (American Board of Optometry) certification processes was dispersed to (26) patients and 25 doctors throughout Michigan. The survey was intended to assess the opinions of each group on the need for doctors to be ABO certified in addition to the current requirements of the NBEO. The survey also included an additional question at the end requiring the participant to indicate qualities they believe are most important for an optometrist to possess. Results: 72% of doctors responded that ABO certification was semi-important, not important or completely unnecessary, while 81% of patients responded that ABO was semi-important, important or necessary. Conclusions: Patients felt that ABO board certification was more necessary than doctors did. Patients and doctors both agreed, when ranked amongst common doctoral traits, that quality of care/knowledge was most important and board certification was least important.