Bill Harvey: We’re ramping up our clinical content

Welcome to the new and expanded clinical section of Optician. As we begin another three-year cycle of enhanced CET, subscribers will have access to more clinical features, CET articles and scientific reviews than ever before. We will be publishing at least one CET-accredited article each week and, on occasion, a second that will cover more advanced or demanding material. As always, we will be covering every competency area of all the target professional categories required by the GOC and will be increasing the material accredited for independent prescriber and contact lens optician CET points.

Each week will have an overall theme. The first week of the month will focus on contact lenses and anterior eye – upcoming topics include a comprehensive review of dry eye disease, a discussion of tears and the lacrimal apparatus and a guide to punctum plugs. There will also be a major complete course in contact lens practice over the coming years. In the second week we will be enhancing our coverage of ophthalmic lenses and dispensing and will include reviews of progressive lens design alongside a look at spectacle intolerance. The third week will see new articles on frames, communication, legal matters, (the new changes to the GOC standards of practice will be covered as they kick in from April) binocular vision, paediatrics and clinical assessment techniques.