1:30min
Making an accurate and honest declaration about your continuing professional development points when you renew your registration with the Optometry Board of Australia has been made easier for members.
Keeping track of all your CPD points is now far simpler following an upgrade of the features and benefits on the Member Hub of Optometry Australia’s website, including ‘My CPD Record‘.
The ‘My CPD Record’ portal records each member’s total CPD points, and shows the breakdown of points accumulated in the current and previous registration periods. It also tracks and displays points according to CPD activity type, including face-to-face learning, non-clinical activities and therapeutic points.
Optometry Australia professional development officer Andrew Kotsos said that new features and benefits on Optometry Australia’s online Member Hub made professional compliance easier for CPD.
Mr Kotsos said the portal complied with Optometry Board of Australia registration requirements.
‘Members of Optometry Australia who are renewing their registration with the OBA before 30 November can look at their “My CPD Record” to very clearly ascertain if they have met the OBA’s CPD requirements,’ he said.
‘The resource has been designed to total CPD points across a two-year registration period, in accordance with OBA registration standards.
‘Optometrists need 80 points over two registration periods, including a minimum of 24 face-to-face points, 40 therapeutic points if endorsed for scheduled medicines, and so on.
‘This online record displays how many points you have in each activity category, making it simple to see if you have met the OBA’s criteria or need to earn points in a specific category.
‘It is a comprehensive check-point so you can see if you are on track, or need to work towards more face-to-face learning, or require more therapeutic learning, for instance,’ he said.
Mr Kotsos said the resource would be invaluable for members who were randomly selected for audit during the OBA’s annual compliance audit.
‘This information is made available to and used by members to help them satisfy the requirements of random compliance audits performed by AHPRA if they are selected,’ he said.
Optometry Australia is the only organisation with a system in place for optometrists to track their accredited CPD points. Optometrists need to be members of the organisation to receive this benefit.
Update your details
‘We are experiencing increasing levels of inquiry from the general public in recent times,’ Mr Kotsos said. ‘Members of the public are phoning Optometry Australia, asking questions about eye health and vision care and where they can find an optometrist who can assist them,’ he said.
‘Members can help themselves by helping the public to find them.’
The ‘Find an Optometrist’ search function was added to Optometry Australia’s website in October 2013. According to Google analytics, it is now the third-highest ranked page for Optometry Australia’s website.
‘That increased functionality has generated more traffic—optometrists who are checking that they are listed, and consumers who are looking for optometrists who meet specific criteria,’ Mr Kotsos said.
When they go online, members are urged to update all their details, not just a phone number and email address.
‘Update the services you provide in your practice, if you are endorsed to prescribe, the equipment you have available, whether you provide home visits, whether you speak other languages and if so, which languages,’ Mr Kotsos said.
‘This information is increasingly being used to drive patients to your practice.’
The Optometry Board of Australia requires optometrists to be able to state every year that they have achieved a minimum of 80 CPD points over the previous two registration periods.
The table (below) demonstrates examples.
In each case one person meets the OBA professional development registration standard with respect to the CPD points requirement and the other does not.
