7 education highlights for Optometry's Meeting® 2022

The profession’s premier event, Optometry’s Meeting^®, from June 15-18 in Chicago, Illinois, calls for top-notch continuing education (CE) and professional development courses.

Toward that end, a thoughtful, education-forward lineup of courses—totaling in excess of 200 CE hours—awaits doctors of optometry, students and paraoptometrics who attend. Register here now.

“Optometry's Meeting offers courses and unique learning opportunities that equip optometrists and paraoptometrics with the newest information so they may return home and provide excellent care to patients,” says Brad Lane, O.D., M.B.A., AOA Education Center Committee co-chair “Our goal is to offer opportunities for optometrists and staff to sharpen skills, learn new and innovative techniques and continue to grow as a professional.”

A trove of courses

The AOA’s CE and professional development courses are what distinguishes Optometry’s Meeting from other industry or trade conferences. Attendees can choose from more than 150 courses, all selected with great thought and an eye on such considerations as how a course fits in with the AOA’s year-round educational philosophy and future scope expansion.

“We’ve selected courses that can act as the foundation for changing the way a doctor chooses to practice certain aspects of the profession or incorporates a new skill,” says George Veliky, O.D., AOA Education Center Committee co-chair. “There are foundational topics that can lead to other areas of education offered beyond Optometry’s Meeting, through such AOA platforms as EyeLearn and webinars.”

Those foundational topics include courses such as “Introduction to Refraction Learning Lab” (for paraoptometrics) and “The Expanding Optometric Scope: Injections Basics” (for doctors and recommended for optometry students).

“We also were looking to build upon the importance of integrated education between paraoptometrics and doctors of optometry, recognizing the importance of having well-educated and qualified staff in our day-to-day patient encounters,” Dr. Veliky says.

For instance, among the integrated courses being offered are “Innovations in Presbyopia” and “Diabetes Cases and Conundrums.”

Further, Dr. Veliky notes, how the role of doctors of optometry is “so intimately connected to the overall well-being of the patient.” As such, interdisciplinary collaboration will be highlighted in order to bolster collaboration with other medical doctors in such courses as “The Secondary Glaucomas: From the OD and MD Perspective” and “Laser Procedures from the OD and the DO Perspective.”

What can attendees expect for #OM2022?

• 31+ hours of CE offered in integrated, doctor-paraoptometric settings.
• Surgical Saturday, a day featuring CE in pathology, diagnosis, treatment protocols, surgical procedures, suturing, injections, and the billing and coding for office-based procedures.
• Workshops and hands-on learning courses for doctors and paraoptometrics focused on contemporary topics, ranging from pediatrics to laser procedures.
• 5 conveniently located courses in the Education Theater in the Exhibit Hall.
• Continuing Education Examination/Transcript Quality (CEE/TQ) credit returns. This year the AOA will be offering 22 hours of CEE credit.
• Expanded AOA+ events, including pop-up learning sessions and Leadership Link opportunities.

About AOA CE hours

The AOA’s modernization of its educational opportunities reflects the reality of today’s optometric learning. Year-round education, when and where it’s convenient for doctors and their staff, ensures practices continue to provide high-quality, primary eye health care.

To deliver that meaningful, year-round professional education, the AOA is offering association hours for courses offered through AOA programs, such as Optometry’s Meeting and the AOA’s EyeLearn Professional Development Hub. This allows the AOA to expand education offerings and deliver clinical, business and communication-related topics that advance the practice of contemporary optometry.

AOA CE hours expand the concept of what CE is while maintaining the high standards for education and delivering innovative and unique content. The hours satisfy most state boards’ CE requirements and are respected by many organizations within the practice of optometry; however, knowing that some states still require specific COPE credit, the AOA continues to offer these courses for the benefit of members.

Attendees should verify their state board requirements prior to selecting courses to attend as some courses carry only AOA CE hours or COPE credit.