By Jaclyn Chang, OD
Continuing Education is a requirement of maintaining membership with your College, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn on your own time and expand your knowledge in areas that you are particularly interested in learning more about.
Consider the Source.
Many commercial organizations provide sponsorship in the form of an unrestricted educational grant to the education provider. Commercial grants usually allow the education provider to make the course content available without charge.
Non-granted CE does not entail commercial sponsorship or provide any grant towards the development of the CE. A typical charge of $15 – $25 USD per accredit hour is normal.
CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Online CE, derived from the CRO peer-reviewed Journal is a good example of a resource that provides CE without commercial grants.
COPE has Strict Rules.
Course instructors are required to declare their involvement, if any, with commercial entities at the outset of a course.
The course content, however, is supposed to be absent of any commercial influence in the development, promotion and delivery of the content.
Below are some resources to help you out – visit the websites for more details and the most up-to-date information.
Non-granted Continuing Education.
Clinical & Refractive Optometry (CRO) offers paid CE hours, with some free hours available. Access to course content and preview of the test is free. Course authors almost exclusively come from challenging clinical settings such as optometry school clinics and US Veteran’s Affairs clinics. Courses are present in text format and can be taken at any time.
CRO is also on the approved list of Journals for AAO Fellowship application. Fellowship applicants can earn 10 points by having a paper accepted and published in CRO.
Optocase offers paid CE hours, with some free hours available: https://optocase.com/
CE Wire, a virtual CE conference, is a commonly used resource to obtain many CE hours at an affordable price. They offer 64 CE hours and 4 live events: https://www.cewire2021.com/
The Academy of Ophthalmic Education, offers paid CE hours with some free hours available: https://www.aoece.com/education
Many optometry schools offer continuing education, including the University of Waterloo:
https://uwaterloo.ca/optometry-vision-science/continuing-education
For continuing education from SECO, including paid CE and occasional free courses, visit:
https://secouniversity.com/cope-individual-courses-full-listing/
Eye Code Education offers paid CE hours: https://www.eyecodeeducation.com/collections?category=continuing-education
Granted Continuing Education
Review of Optometry: https://www.revieweducationgroup.com/
MedEdicus: https://www.pathlms.com/mededicus
Review of Myopia Management: https://reviewofmm.com/category/continuing-education/
CL Spectrum: https://www.clspectrum.com/continuing-education-center
EyeSchool.ca: http://www.eyeschool.ca/
Evolve Medical Education offers free CE for a number of specialties, including optometry: https://evolvemeded.com/
Healio offers free CE for a number of specialties, including optometry: https://cme.healio.com/optometry
Industry partners often sponsor CE, including TLC Laser Eye Centers. Notifications of upcoming webinars are emailed out if you are on their mailing list. The previously used link has not yet been updated for 2021, but is here for your future reference: https://www.tlcvision.com/ceseries/
For Your Learning (non-COPE)
Dr. Ike K Ahmed, MD hosts Prism Eye Rounds: https://www.prismeyeinstitute.com/webinars/
Zeiss offers educational webinars: https://www.zeiss.ca/meditec/en/c/zeiss-educational-webinars.html
They also have texts available for download for a limited time:
https://www.zeiss.ca/meditec/en/c/effective-perimetry-free-book.html
https://www.zeiss.ca/meditec/en/c/practical-angiography-free-book.html
Other Resources
Gonioscopy: http://gonioscopy.org/
Iowa Glaucoma Curriculum: http://curriculum.iowaglaucoma.org/
OCTs: https://www.octcases.com/
Resources from Dr. Ron Melton, OD and Dr. Randall Thomas, OD: https://www.eyeupdate.com/
KMK Educational Services also produce updates for ODs: https://www.kmkoptometrypro.com/
Videos and other resources from Dr. Timothy Root, MD: https://timroot.com/
Resources from ophthalmology residents: https://eyeguru.org/
Spending the time to learn more about a subject is an investment in your future and helps you become the best OD you can be!
CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Journal (www.CROJournal.com) will provide one free COPE credit for any new OD signing up to the NewOptometrist.ca e-newsletter. The free credit can be applied to any course in the CRO Catalogue.
JACLYN CHANG, OD
Editor NewOptometrist.ca
Dr. Jaclyn Chang graduated from the University of Waterloo (UW) with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences before continuing at Waterloo to complete her Doctor of Optometry degree. She is currently a practicing optometrist in Toronto.
Dr. Chang is committed to sharing information and bringing new resources to her colleagues. As a student, she sat on the Board of Trustees for the American Optometric Student Association, organizing events to connect students with industry. She was the Co-Founder/Co-President of the award-winning UW Advancement of Independent Optometry Club, the first club at UW dedicated to private practice optometry. Dr. Chang is also a passionate writer, who aims to make information accessible and easily digestible to her colleagues. She has published in Optometry & Vision Science and Foresight magazine and contributed to Optik magazine. She is excited to bring valuable resources to Canada’s next generation of optometrists with NewOptometrist.ca.
