The College’s annual Conference, Optometry Tomorrow, was held in London on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 April 2008. The Conference attracted delegates from all over the world and was supported by 28 exhibitors.
Ian Davies, Vice President of the Vision Care Institute, delivered the keynote address, the Charter Lecture. Ian’s lecture, described by delegates as thought provoking and insighftul focused on The practice of the future. Ian described how technology continues to provide the optometrist with better tools to enhance patient success. He challenged delegates to consider how they will manage to keep pace with advances in technology while providing high quality care and preparing for the future. The lecture focused on the role of the optometrist, how practices may evolve and what is currently possible before setting out the key issues facing the profession over the next 10 to 20 years.
The Conference featured a series of 12 lectures, underpinned by workshops running in parallel to the lecture programme. Learning opportunities meant that delegates could earn up to 16 CET Points over the two-day programme. Highlights of the lecture programme included Professor Bruce Evans’ look at Migraine and the optometrist, Mr Paulo Stanga’s analysis of Advances in Retinal Imaging, John Tickner’s lecture on Ocular therapeutics and Mr Stephen Beatty’s discussion on Nutritional status and age-related maculopathy.
A series of hands on, clinical workshops gave delegates the opportunity to develop their practical skills in a supportive environment. Malcolm McPherson’s workshop on The removal of foreign objects focused on the examination of a patient presenting with a suspected ocular foreign body. Delegates used animal eyes to practise techniques and developed their understanding of when to treat and when to refer. Gonioscopy – a clinical skills workshop by Amanda Harding, explained the technique of gonioscopy, the reasons for using gonioscopy and enabled delegates to safely apply a gonio lens onto an anesthetised eye, Donald Cameron’s workshop on Optical Coherence Tomography demonstrated clinical examples of OCT investigations, focusing on how to interpret the tomographs and apply their relevance clinically.
Rob Hogan, President of the College of Optometrists said “Optometry Tomorrow 2008 was a huge success for the College. The Conference addressed some of the key issues facing the profession today, I am delighted by the response received from delegates who enjoyed an incredibly diverse lecture and workshop programme. We are already using delegate feedback to plan next year’s event, details will be released shortly."