Principles of Prescribing On-line CPPD

Course overview

Module outline and aims

The Department of Optometry and Visual Science at City, University of London has been providing modular postgraduate training in ocular therapeutics for over 15 years. The purpose of this training has been to provide the theoretical knowledge and clinical skills to enable optometrists to manage ocular disease within the context of the legal and regulatory framework provided by the Opticians Act and relevant medicines legislation.

Candidates entering the full independent prescribing (IP) programme will complete a three module scheme (Principles of Therapeutics, Principles of Prescribing and IP) and complete the requisite clinical placement days. Candidates may opt to exit after modules 1 and 2 (following completion of a clinical placement) and qualify as an Additional Supply (AS) optometrist by taking the College of Optometrists’ Common Final Assessment (CFA) in AS. Alternatively, modules can be taken as stand-alone modules as part of the postgraduate programme in Clinical Optometry.

This University on-line module constitutes 15 level 7 academic credits and will be integrated into our modular postgraduate programme in clinical optometry. An APEL arrangement will be used to import postgraduate credits from the clinical placement aspect of the CFA to allow students qualifying in IP to be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate.

Completion of Principles of Therapeutics in addition to Principles of Prescribing and Independent Prescribing will enable optometrists to be entered onto a specialist optometry GOC register for therapeutic prescribing.  Qualified independent prescribers will take responsibility for the clinical assessment of a patient, establish a diagnosis and determine the clinical management required, including prescribing where necessary. The training for IP encompasses the Supplementary Prescribing (SP) specialities.

Module dates