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What are the appropriate skills and knowledge of reimbursement systems needed for the entry-level practice of optometry?

Health care reimbursement has increasingly become a major factor in the day-to-day practice of optometry. This paper, originally presented at the 1992 Summit on Optometric Education, outlines the various types of programs the optometrist should be familiar with, and emphasizes the importance of the integration of such knowledge into the curriculum of the schools and colleges of optometry.

Humans

What are the appropriate skills and knowledge required for the entry-level practice of optometry?

All health professions have developed a national program of competence assessment to address the specific issue of "entry-level practice." This is also true in optometry through the 3-Part examinations of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry. These examinations test the cognitive (knowledge) skills necessary to be fit to practice and the communication, affective and psychomotor skills that are required to apply the underlying knowledge in the solution of patient problems. The scope of the National Board examinations and how they change to keep pace with the expansion and the scope of practice, demonstrates that entry-level is a dynamic concept.

Clinical Competence

Preventing transmission of infectious diseases including the human immunodeficiency virus in the practice of optometry.

The risks of acquisition of infectious diseases including the human immunodeficiency virus--1 (HIV) to practitioners and patients in the practice of optometry is discussed. Measures that reduce the risk of contracting or transmitting HIV and other infectious diseases in optometry are presented. Effective disinfection including that for HIV are discussed.

Contact Lenses

Changes in achievement scores as a result of a joint optometry and education intervention program.

This study tested the effect of a visually directed intervention program on changes in standardized test results of intelligence quotient and achievement during kindergarten. Two groups of 19 kindergarten children from equivalent schools were matched for intelligence quotient, age, and sex. Fall and Spring measurements were made in the following areas: intelligence quotient, academic achievement tests, and paper and pencil perceptual tests. A visually based intervention program involving both optometry and education was provided for the experimental group. Kindergarten children in the experimental group who received the visually directed optometry and education intervention program showed significant differences in the rate of change in four of the eight tested areas when matched to the control group.

Achievement

Optometry and its expanded role in health care delivery systems (1600-1987).

Today's optometry students and practitioners alike are often unaware of the richness of optometric history. The use of ophthalmic pharmaceutical agents and the designation of primary care practitioners are often taken for granted. This article utilizes some of the early research conducted by Harrington, Hofsteter, Prentice, Hirsch, Wick, Fitch, and Gregg, and describes the advent of drug legislation and the expanded role of optometry within the health care system.

Delivery of Health Care

Optometry's direction versus public needs.

This paper presents some parallels between the issues relating to our young population's difficulty in vision performance facing optometry in 1976 and medical eye care in the late 1800's. Three specific elements are identified and discussed: namely, (1) difference in practice of optometry and our organizational efforts; (2) the lack of agreed-upon clinical systems; and (3) the lack of availability of care. Suggestion for consideration are presented.

Adolescent

Reginald C. Augustine. Apostle of optometry.

This paper concerns itself with the personal life and professional contributions of one of the great men in optometry, R. C. Augustine. This short biography includes discussions on his childhood, his introduction to the field of optometry, his early contributions in his community, his book, his achievements during the presidency of the American Optometric Association and also his extension work the following two years. In summation, a discussion of his professional philosophy will follow.

History, 19th Century

Sociological perspectives of the profession of optometry: a new look at trends since 1958.

The paper identifies many features of optometry which have changed in the fifteen years since the last paper by Orzack and Uglum; other aspects have remained surprisingly unchanged. Some of these developments could have been predicted from the analysis of the original article in 1958. This paper will be useful in evaluation of the directions in which optometry seems headed and will stimulate some planning for the future. Some of the questions raised and areas discussed will provoke contention among the optometric community and among others, and this can serve as the impetus for some critical optometric-sponsored research.

Interprofessional Relations

Psychology and optometry. Interaction and collaboration.

Health care professionals have long recognized the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, although it is sometimes difficult to effect such collaborations. One unique possibility for interdisciplinary exchange involves the professions of clinical psychology and optometry. A number of vision conditions have psychological components and some psychological conditions may be complicated by vision difficulties; thus, there are a number of ways in which psychologists and optometrists could inform each others' practices. Better organized health care delivery is likely to result from interdisciplinary training and cooperation, as clients are likely to receive more efficient diagnosis, treatment, and management of health problems.

Adolescent

National health and optometry: a follow-up study.

A stratified probability sample of the Houston, Texas population was interviewed with a previously described questionnaire (Allen, D., and D. Levi, National Health and Optometry--a survey of public attitudes. Am. J. Optom., 52 (4): 291-300, (1975) to assess present opinion of national health care and public awareness of vision care and its role in a national health care system. Of the population surveyed, 72% favored a national health care bill, some 10% lower than reported 1 year previously. A large percentage of the population sampled favored inclusion of vision care. The results are described in terms of demographic trends for those who have received optometric and ophthalmological care.

Dental Care

An optometry course on quality assurance.

The Pennsylvania College of Optometry, in response to an increasing demand for accountability from many segments of society, has initiated a course for first-year students on quality assurance. The course covers the concept of peer review, the principles of evaluating optometric care, the rationale of ambulatory records, and the concepts of optometric diagnosing and problem solving. We believe that the need to expose optometric students to basic quality-assurance principles will increase with future third-party payment programs and consumer-rights movements.

Curriculum

Impact of health care trends on the practice of optometry.

Major trends occurring within the health care field will impact on the future practice of optometry. This report reviews several trends relating to cost containment, alternative delivery systems, population demographics, competition, corporate involvement in health care, and health promotion and wellness programs. Predictions are made regarding changes that may occur in optometric practice in the future in response to these emerging health care trends.

Delivery of Health Care

The Canadian Optometry Survey: report on the utilization of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents by Canadian optometrists.

This study represents the first national survey of optometrists in Canada. A mailed questionnaire was designed and implemented in order to discover how optometrists have reacted to the introduction of diagnostic pharmaceutical agent (DPA) legislation in Canada and to determine what variables are important predictors of DPA use. The data collected were also used to test the null hypothesis that DPA legislation does not affect the use of mydriatic/cycloplegic agents by optometrists. A stratified random sampling procedure was used to select 230 optometrists (roughly 10% of the practicing profession) for inclusion in the study. Over 90% of the subjects completed and returned the questionnaire. A statistically significant and important association was found between mydriatic/cycloplegic drug use and legislation (p less than 0.05 and odds ratio = 2.18). Legislation, type of practice, age, and optometry school attended were all found to be associated with DPA use.

Age Factors

Electronic submission of abstracts for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry.

Recently the American Academy of Optometry conducted a 2-year trial in which abstracts submitted for presentation at the Annual Meeting could be transmitted to the Academy in electronic form. Electronic submission has many advantages for the author as well as for the Academy and therefore has now been endorsed as the preferred method of submission for future meetings. Step-by-step procedures for electronic submission are described.

Abstracting and Indexing

Optometry research. Part 2: Grants received.

Part 1 showed that the dominant provider of ophthalmic research funding (85%) was the National Eye Institute (NEI) and that on the average optometry faculty members had received about 3% of that funding over the years. Part 2 shows how this 3% of NEI funding has been distributed among the 16 U.S. schools in existence during the period studied and why 3% is a rational result under current conditions.

Humans

Prevalence of disabled stereopsis in a class of optometry students.

Stereopsis is said to be disabled when the third dimension (3-D) cannot be perceived during everyday life but can be when viewing conditions are appropriately arranged. To discover a test suitable for detecting disabled stereopsis, I measured stereoacuity, stereolatency, and the subjective difference in depth perception between monocular and binocular vision of a group of 41 optometry students. Only 2 students showed no sign of this disability. A predictive value for each test was calculated from the results of 14 students whose disability was confirmed by another means. Stereoacuity had the worst predictive value (43%) and stereolatency the best (100%). The prevalence of disabled stereopsis in this group was no less than 34% and might have been as great as 95%.

Depth Perception

The Opticians Act 1989 and UK optometry.

The build-up to the original 1958 Opticians Act is used as an introduction to the more recent developments in UK optics that have culminated in the introduction of the Opticians Act 1989. The changes introduced as a result of the Health and Social Security Act 1984 and the Health and Medicines Act 1988 are briefly described before discussing the sectional arrangement of the new Act. This new legislation pulls together much of the law relating to optometry and dispensing optics in the UK and provides a single accessible source.

Optometry