So, the GOC agrees with the College of Optometrists that the ‘testing of sight must remain a protected function of the [Opticians] Act that can only be performed by an optometrist or registered medical practitioner.’ However, it has yet to decide on another point raised by the College, which stated ‘refraction should not be separated from the sight test’ and ‘should continue to be a single episode of care delivered on the same day, at the same location and by one individual.’
I agree with the first point and can think of many examples where the refractive outcome is, and should be, influenced by an understanding of the patient’s health status or even psychological status. Only last week, I saw an unusual pseudomyopia triggered by stress-induced accommodative spasm and a post-stroke patient whose nausea was linked with their prismatic diplopia management. You might argue these events are not commonplace, but they occur with sufficient frequency to require the input of someone with
the appropriate training and experience to decide on complexity.
On the second point, however, it would appear that refraction as a delegated function is still up for grabs. I have less of a problem with this and feel that, as with most data gathering, it will work as long as ‘one individual’ is able to take over or sign off, even from a different location. They will maintain full responsibility for the outcome, while allowing for improved patient access to refractive correction at a time where many might otherwise struggle.
As we went to press with our audiology primer CPD last week, I noticed a major study hit the press confirming that plants communicate by sound, albeit at frequencies way above the 20,000Hz upper limit humans are attuned to. The report is freely available online, or you could read the short story The Sound Machine by Roald Dahl as you tuck into your vegan Easter eggs.
- Do you have an idea for a clinical feature? Email the clinical editor bill.harvey@markallengroup.com.
- For details of how to submit a case study and earn an interactive CPD point for each of the domains, go to the CPD area of opticianonline.net.