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Certified ophthalmic technician education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Usually, certified ophthalmic technicians don't need a college education. The most common degree for certified ophthalmic technicians is bachelor's degree with 43% graduates, with only 30% certified ophthalmic technician graduates earning associate degree. Certified ophthalmic technicians who decided to graduate from college often finish Pima Medical Institute or St. Petersburg College. Some good skills to have in this position include patients, ophthalmology and color vision.

Popular certified ophthalmic technician certifications include Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT), Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA), or Ophthalmology. To improve certified ophthalmic technician qualification and skills, we prepared some online courses to help in certified ophthalmic technician education paths.

What education do you need to become a certified ophthalmic technician?

What degree do you need to be a certified ophthalmic technician?

The most common degree for certified ophthalmic technicians is bachelor's degree, with 43% of certified ophthalmic technicians earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 30% and associate degree degree at 5%.
  • Bachelor's, 43%
  • Associate, 30%
  • High School Diploma, 5%
  • Master's, 5%
  • Other Degrees, 17%

What should I major in to become a certified ophthalmic technician?

You should major in biology to become a certified ophthalmic technician. 14% of certified ophthalmic technicians major in biology. Other common majors for a certified ophthalmic technician include business and nursing.

Best majors for certified ophthalmic technicians

RankMajorPercentages
1Biology13.9%
2Business13.9%
3Nursing11.7%
4Medical Technician8.0%
5Medical Assisting Services7.3%

20 best online courses for certified ophthalmic technicians

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1. Operations and Patient Safety for Healthcare IT Staff

coursera

Now that you've been introduced to the world of Health IT and the important role played by electronic health records (EHRs), we'll focus on other technologies that play a role in maintaining ongoing operations in healthcare. Telemedicine, patient portals, barcode scanners, printers, and medical devices are just some of the technologies that impact providers and patients. As an IT support specialist, you’ll be asked to troubleshoot issues with a wide variety of tools. You'll see a scenario with...

2. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale

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Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...

3. Become a Pharmacy Technician

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4. Project Management Fundamentals - The Art of Scheduling

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Learn How To Schedule Like A Pro From A Pro...

5. Motivational Enhancement Techniques: Working with Patients with Opioid & Substance Use Disorders or High Risk Use MAT Waiver Training S...

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WORKING WITH PATIENTS WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS OR HIGH RISK This optional online course opportunity is made possible through a joint partnership with University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVASOM) and Nursing (SON) and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP), DATA 2000 sponsor. This content was created by the AAAP and has been used with permission. The course consists of one 1-hour session for healthcare providers who wish to enhance their effectiveness in treating high-risk...

6. Trauma Emergencies and Care

coursera

Welcome to Trauma Emergencies and Care. In this course, you will learn about some of the mechanics and physics of trauma on the human body, and how this can cause injury. You will continue to expand your new vocabulary with medical terminology, and learn how to describe the different injuries you may see. You will also learn about the trauma system itself- and when it is important to transport patients to a trauma center. Then we will dive into specific injuries based on what part of the body...

7. Emergency Care: Pregnancy, Infants, and Children

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Welcome to the final course of lectures in your quest to master EMT basics. In this course, we will cover some of the highest-stress patient populations: pregnant patients and kids, also known as pediatrics. To wrap up your EMT knowledge we will end this course with information about hazmat situations, extricating patients from tight spots and finally how you write a note about your patient care. You will learn to ensure it communicates what your assessment of the patient was, what...

8. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation

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Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...

9. Medical Emergencies: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation

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In this course, you will develop the knowledge and skills to assess and stabilize certain types of patients for transport. By the end of this course, you will be able to: 1) assess a basic medical patient 2) describe general pharmacologic principles and the skills associated with medication administration, 3) explain airway physiology, the assessment of the airway and available interventions for airway management, 4) identify, assess and formulate a plan to stabilize a patient with a...

10. COVID-19 Training for Healthcare Workers

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COVID-19 is rapidly spreading across the globe and all providers must be prepared to recognize, stabilize and treat patients with novel coronavirus infection. Following completion of this short course physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals will have a unified, evidenced-based approach to saving the lives of patients with COVID-19, including those who are critically ill. Learning modules are broken into short videos presented in a richly illustrated and compelling manner. The...

11. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

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This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

12. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers

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This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...

13. Medical Emergencies: CPR, Toxicology, and Wilderness

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In this course, you will develop the knowledge and skills to assess and stabilize certain types of patients for transport. By the end of this course, you will be able to: (1) Identify the signs and symptoms associated with a patient in shock, to describe the major categories of shock, to assess a patient with signs of shock and formulate a plan for treatment to stabilize the patient for transport, (2) Identify a patient in cardiac arrest and to describe the components of high performance CPR...

14. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes

coursera

COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...

15. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative

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Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...

16. Prepare for the EMT Certification Test

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Welcome to your final course in Become and EMT! Prepare for the National Registry exam. The title for this course is a little bit misleading. We do hope that at the completion of this course that you feel more prepared to take the skills portion as well as the written portion of the national registry exam. More than anything else, however, our greatest hope is that we have given you the knowledge and tools to provide high quality patient care once you are certified as an EMT or once you achieve...

17. Introduction to Cataract Surgery

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This comprehensive course will give you the fundamental knowledge needed to begin performing cataract surgery by phacoemulsification and extracapsular removal. Each step from preoperative evaluation to postoperative care will be covered to help prepare you for the operating room...

18. Wilderness First Aid - Introduction

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In this course, students will learn the basics of wilderness medicine, including how it is a unique clinical environment, and concepts of scene safety. They will learn how to perform a basic assessment of a patient, including a physical exam, gather history data using the SAMPLE approach, and how to evaluate a patient for a potential spinal cord injury...

19. Palliative Care Always Capstone Course

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The Palliative Care Always Capstone course is designed to let you test your knowledge about palliative and help others understand the value of palliative care, while showing your creative side. In this course, you will impact community awareness about palliative care, promote self-care and wellness, show-off your communication skills in a virtual environment, and finish the course off by proving your thoughts on ways to offer psychosocial support to a patient and family...

20. Intro to Improving the Patient Experience Through Analytics

coursera

This course is best suited for individuals currently in the healthcare sector, as a provider, payer, or administrator. Individuals pursuing a career change to the healthcare sector may also be interested in this course. In this course, you will have an opportunity to explore concepts and topics related to improving the patient experience and reducing pain points in healthcare processes through analytic and decision support frameworks. After learning about the problems facing patients in today's...

Average certified ophthalmic technician salary by education level

Certified ophthalmic technician education levelCertified ophthalmic technician salary
High School Diploma or Less$39,848

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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