655-420 Community Optometry & Prof. Standards

Note

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Students must have passed all subjects at third year level before proceeding to this subject.

Corequisites

Optometry 655-410.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

The general purpose of this subject is to acquaint students with the concepts of public health and the role of optometry in community health and to have a well-developed sense of their ethical, professional and legal responsibilities. The subject also sets out to provide students with the skills to provide advice to industry and commerce on visual ergonomics, visual standards and occupational eye protection. The subject covers the nature and scope of public health and public health optometry, human factors engineering and the alteration of the task and environment to improve visual performance, the principles of illuminating engineering, vision screening as a public health measure and the principles underlying the setting and administration of visual standards. A series of lectures deals with the theory and practice of accidents at work, the principles of accident prevention and their application to the prevention of eye injuries. There will be series of lectures on ethics, practice standards, the law in relation to optometry, and practice management.

Assessment

A 2-hour end-of-semester written examination (85%); lighting evaluation assignment (15%)

Prescribed Texts

• D G Pitts and R N Kleinstein, Environmental Vision. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1993.