Profile of the Australian Orthoptic Workforce 2012/13

Konstandina Koklanis PhD
Meri Vukicevic PhD
Discipline of Orthoptics, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Purpose: This paper presents the findings of the Orthoptics Australia 2012/13 orthoptic workforce study.

Methods: An online survey was sent to Orthoptics Australia members and promoted to non-members by colleagues, via social media and at various continuing education events. Data was collected from October 2012 to April 2013 using the online survey tool Survey Monkey.

Results: Four-hundred-and-fifteen orthoptists completed the online survey. Results indicate that the female to male ratio is 9.6:1 with the average age of orthoptists 37 years and 61.5% of orthoptists under the age of 40. The majority (81.7%) of orthoptists reside in New South Wales or Victoria and most (81.1%) work in metropolitan areas. Orthoptists work in a diverse range of clinical areas, including advanced practice, with 91.8% working in specialist public or private eye clinics, 52.8% working full-time and 42% having a career interruption at some point. Overall 27.2% of orthoptists indicated that they would be leaving the profession within the next five years.

Conclusions: This study provides a valuable dataset which should be further explored with finer analysis of the workforce.