The debate of private optometry versus corporate optometry is slowly wearing away. Some private optometrists still have strong opinions about optometrists working in a Walmart or other corporate settings. However, many graduating ODs are hoping corporate optometry will be a stepping stone to reach their dreams. Once there, some find their stepping stone has become a path that is difficult to leave. Here are three reasons why leaving corporate optometry may be a struggle:

1. Risk – You are averse to taking risk. After all, you have a corporate position that allows you to make a nice living and pay back your student loans. Plus, since you don’t own your own practice, you can leave work at work. Many students find that the allure to corporate optometry originates in the salary that is being offered.  When students  graduate with $150,000+ in debt, they have one thing on their mind–making debt payments. Once a new OD takes a corporate job and gets used to an income of $120,000, it becomes very difficult to see the reward of making less in the short term in private practice, although private practice offers the opportunity to make much more in the future.
2. Fear – A recent conversation with a fellow optometrist enlightened me to the fear that many graduating ODs may have. The individual has been practicing optometry in a corporate setting and fears that if he does not find a practice that is more of the medical model he will lose the comfort and decision making skills to practice full scope optometry. Many ODs find themselves refracting and doing health evaluations in corporate but not having the setup to manage disease if diagnosed. The greater the number of years an optometrist primarily refracts results in a greater fear of moving into a model requiring comfort and experience in ocular disease.
3. You love it – For those of you in corporate optometry that love it, good for you. I have had the opportunity to work in coordination with many optometrists who began in corporate and 10-20 years later still find themselves practicing in the corporate culture and love it. The beauty of our profession is that it affords us many different modes of practice.  Many private practice optometrists believe the “evil” corporations are going to take over. Many of the corporate optometrists believe private optometrists are extremely pretentious and if they have to be pretentious they don’t want any part of it. Believe it or not, corporate and private practice can coexist successfully.

Whether you are trying to escape from corporate optometry or you wake up every day thankful that you have the opportunity to practice in a corporate setting, don’t miss the big idea. Success in optometry is defined by each individual optometrist and any optometrist who desires to leave a position should take the risk and do it. A non-passionate, unhappy, dread-filled optometrist is not good for any of us. The opinion of the general public is determined by their experience with their optometrist. Whether in corporate or private practice, when that experience is negative it affects the perception of all optometrists.