Community Optometry PG (10331.1)

Required texts

Bowling, B. Kanski's Clinical Ophthalmology : A Systematic Approach (8th Ed.). London: Elsevier, 2016.
This book is available for purchase at the School Locker online-shop and for loan at the library (including online).

Bagheri, N., Wajda, B., Calvo, C., Durrani, A., Friedberg, M., Rapuano, C., & Wills Eye Hospital. The Wills Eye Manual: Office and Emergency Room Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Disease (7th Ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2016.
This book is available for loan at the library (including online).
 
Bruce, A. S. and Loughnan, M. S. Anterior Eye Disease and Therapeutics (2nd Ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann, 2011.
This book is available for loan at the library (including online).

Submission of assessment items

Special assessment requirements

To achieve a passing grade or higher in this unit, students must:

• Attempt all assessment items, including subparts;
• Attend the full scheduled clinical placement on CANVAS (approximately 10 weeks running between Weeks 1 to 20 inclusive). This includes placement at the UC Health Hub, external practices, vision screenings, community projects and specialty Optometry clinics. This is necessary as all consultations where students were independent patient managers (under supervision) contribute to meeting the external accreditation patient quota. Some patient categories require outreach;
• Achieve at least 50% in the Work Samples assignment.

The Unit Convener reserves the right to question students verbally/in writing on any of their submitted work to confirm student knowledge.

The weightings of the unit assessment items are used for the purpose of calculating whether a student has passed individual assessment tasks, however this unit is an ungraded unit hence the overall grade will not include a mark. i.e. it is only graded as an "ungraded pass or fail".

Students are required to submit an absence form (available via the unit's UC Learn Canvas site) and appropriate documentary evidence for every absence. The Unit Convener will assess your application; however, this will not guarantee that your application will be successful.

Students are required to cooperate in (laboratory classes, workshops or remediation sessions) where students may be asked to practice optometry skills on each other, so each student is the patient and practitioner in turn and in approximately equal duration. By both conducting the clinical procedures and participating in the tests, you will gain an insight and empathy into the issues associated with testing visual function, both from the point of view of both an optometrist and patient. 

As stated earlier, this course aims to develop your professional and communication skills in preparation for your journey towards being a health professional. During classes and placements, you will be required to demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict. Any action or omission that affects the safety of your patient or peers or is deemed disrespectful to your patients, fellow students or the teaching staff can result in failure of a patient assessment task regardless of the aggregate mark for the assessment. Virtual classes have additional requirements where you will further develop communication skills in the virtual environment. While in a virtual environment, students are required to present themselves and communicate with peers, staff and invited speakers in a professional way. Hence the default for all virtual classes is for all student web cameras to be turned on during virtual classes. Instructors may require students to interact either verbally, through polls or the shared chat function. Students who do not participate in this way will be marked as absent for the class. Students who need guidance on expected behaviours and participation may consult with the Unit Convener and/or Study Skills. Instructors may request that cameras are turned off under certain circumstances.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment will not be offered to students in this unit as it is a professional placement unit and it is impractical and inappropriate to offer supplementary assessment.

Additional external accreditation requirements for this course

There are specific external accreditation requirements across three placement units in the Master of Optometry course, which includes this unit:

You will be completing patient consultations during placements to meet external accreditation requirements in the units Optometry Residency PG (10412), Community Optometry PG (10331) and Assessment of Optometric Competence (10330).  

All (both formative and summative) consultations you see over these three units will count towards your requirements. You are required to see approximately 50% of your quota within the Optometry Residency unit, and 50% of your quota within the units Assessment of Optometric Competence and Community Optometry. At least 50% of your consultations must occur during internal placements at the UC Health Hub Eye clinic.

In total, students must meet quotas across a range of patient categories. Specifically, students are required to independently manage (under supervision):

• At least 80 primary care consultations. Within those 80 consultations, there must be at least 60 consultations which are full and comprehensive consultations
• At least 15 contact lens consultations (a mixture of fits, deliveries and after care visits)
• At least 4 paediatric consultations
• At least 1 myopia management consultation
• At least 2 binocular vision consultations (at least one assessment, diagnosis and management, and at least one in-office vision training consultation)
• At least 4 geriatric consultations
• At least 1 low vision assessment (including prescribing and trialling of low vision aids)
• At least 5 ocular therapeutic consultations, with at least 2 of those consultations including prescription of Schedule 4 medication.
• At least 2 glaucoma consultations
• At least 4 medical retina consultations
• At least 3 anterior eye consultations
• At least 30 dispensing consultations

While those are the minimal requirements for independent consultations, units may have additional requirements for shared consultations, according to specific guidelines that will be provided on CANVAS. This is to ensure that students benefit as a group in participating in the care of rarer patients e.g. during review clinics or specialty clinics. This quota will be monitored and recorded in the individual units.

The marking scheme rubric for your performance on consultations conducted while on placement in the individual units is provided in the related unit outlines. During the unit Assessment of Optometric Competence, quota from the 3 units will be considered as a whole to determine if students have met the minimal quota.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

This Unit contains participatory elements which are vital to the Optometry Board of Australia entry-level competencies for optometrists (https://www.optometry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Professional_support/Guidelines/Final_Entry-level-Competency-Standard-for-Optometry-2022.pdf). Except in the case of extenuating circumstances, 100% of both attendance and participation are required at all placements and workshops. Students are required to attend for the entire time scheduled for placements and workshops. Students who are late by more than 15 minutes without an adequate documented reason will be regarded as absent; students who leave before the end, unless all assigned work has been completed to the satisfaction of the clinical educator will be regarded as absent from the placement. It is expected that students unable to fulfil these participation requirements will inform the Unit Convener as soon as practical, by email. If attendance requirements cannot be regularly satisfied (e.g. timetable clash) it may be recommended that you schedule this unit for a future semester. Failure to adhere to these requirements may result in failure of the associated assessment piece. For inability to attend a scheduled clinical session, an ‘Absence from Clinic' form (available on UCLearn Canvas) with supporting documentation must be submitted to the Unit Convener; students may be required to attend an additional clinical session to complete the required tasks. Consideration will be given for illness; however evidence such as a medical certificate will be required. The final decision will be at the discretion of the Unit Convener.

As stated earlier, this course aims to develop your professional and communication skills in preparation for your journey towards being a health professional. During classes and placements, you will be required to demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict. Any action or omission that affects the safety of your patient or peers or is deemed disrespectful to your patients, fellow students or the teaching staff can result in failure of a patient assessment task regardless of the aggregate mark for the assessment. Virtual classes have additional requirements where you will further develop communication skills in the virtual environment. While in a virtual environment, students are required to present themselves and communicate with peers, staff and invited speakers in a professional way. Hence the default for all virtual classes is for all student web cameras to be turned on during virtual classes. Instructors may require students to interact either verbally, through polls or the shared chat function. Students who do not participate in this way will be marked as absent for the class. Students who need guidance on expected behaviours and participation may consult with the Unit Convener and/or Study Skills. Instructors may request that cameras are turned off under certain circumstances.

Required IT skills

The use of UCLearn Canvas, Smartabase, Mahara, library searching skills, word and data processing (Microsoft Office Suite) and electronic presentation skills are necessary for this unit.

In-unit costs

In-unit costs for students include travel and accommodation costs for placements. 

Compulsory placement can include regional placement within Australia.

• Eligible students may apply for Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Student Support Scheme for financial support.
• There are also subsidised placement accommodation for eligible UC Health Students.
• ACT government also provides eligible students with placement grants. 

Further details will be provided on CANVAS.

Students should already own the full Optometry uniform and Optometry kit. Students may have access to Optometry equipment loans. To arrange equipment loan, or if you have any concerns with meeting the cost requirements of this unit, please contact your Unit Convenor. 

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit involves work integrated learning: Placement. 

Students must adhere to University policy during WIL activities, including the Student Conduct Rules 2018, the WIL Policy and WIL Procedure, and the Assessment Policy and Assessment Procedure.

This unit has pre-placement requirements (e.g. Working with Vulnerable People registration, immunisation/s). You must complete Pre-Place: Preparation for Work Integrated Learning prior to commencement of your Placement. You can self-enrol in this module through the UC Learn site here.

You are also required to complete details in InPlace, refer to inplace.canberra.edu.au. If you have any queries related to InPlace please contact placement@canberra.edu.au.

Contact your Unit Convener if you have any concerns with meeting the requirements of this unit.

Additional information

Complying with UC Graduate attributes of professionalism is a requirement for students enrolled in this unit.
Failure to comply and demonstrate these attributes will result in your practice placement being cancelled.
 

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