Over the next decade, the optometric workforce is projected to experience growth of 1.4 percent each year, a continued shift toward a female OD majority and a more limited additional capacity for the profession to expand than previously suggested, a recent national survey suggests. The investigation, based on 2017 data and published in Optometry and Vision Science, also found a lack of diversity in the profession. Minorities are poorly represented in optometry, which the authors cite as concerning and a barrier to care. Specifically, only 3.8 percent of respondents self-identified as Hispanic or Latino, 0.4 percent as Black/African-American and 0.2 percent as Native American. “This is clearly much lower than the overall population’s makeup and hopefully is a wake-up call to our profession to encourage minority recruitment,” said Brian Chou, OD, of San Diego. Read More