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Optometry Internship (OPTO90028)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 100On Campus (Parkville)
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Year Long
Assoc Prof Daryl Guest
daryl.guest@unimelb.edu.au
Prof Algis Vingrys
algis@unimelb.edu.au
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
Availability | Year Long |
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Fees | Look up fees |
Note: This subject is only available to students enrolled in the Doctor of Optometry.
The main aim of the Doctor of Optometry internship year is to integrate the optometric knowledge gained by students during their first three years of study with clinical work in a variety of clinical settings, in a way that will consolidate what they have learned and help them develop and improve the clinical skills necessary to practice optometry and serve patients in a safe and satisfactory way. The variety of clinical settings may include clinical rotations based in the University of Melbourne teaching clinics, public and private metropolitan practices, and hospital clinics. Other possible rotations include overseas placement sites, rural settings and specialist practices. Students will have the opportunity to gain experience in the areas of contact lenses, paediatrics, ocular disease, clinical therapeutic management of disease, low vision and binocular vision clinical specialties during the year.
Intended learning outcomes
Optometric Knowledge and Skills: Students must demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving basic and clinical science, as well as the application of this knowledge to patient care. At the end of the internship year they should be able to:
- demonstrate clinical competence through the number of patients seen, techniques performed and feedback provided.
- select, justify, and interpret appropriate clinical tests and diagnostic procedures with attention to benefits, harm and cost.
- demonstrate knowledge of the ethical, moral and legal foundations of optometric care.
- recognise the social determinants of vision disorders and disease, and the influence of physical, social and cultural environments.
Patient Care: Students must be able to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective. At the end of the internship year they should be able to:
- interpret data and use clinical reasoning skills to derive a differential diagnosis and develop a clinical management plan.
- perform a targeted, accurate and timely clinical examination based on the patient's condition.
- collaborate with other health professionals to ensure patient safety and to enhance the quality of care.
- recognise and work within the limits of their competence and scope of practice.
Life-Long Learning and Improvement: Students must be able to continuously improve patient care based on self-evaluation and life-long learning. At the end of the internship year they should be able to:
- demonstrate the ability to give and receive constructive, formative feedback.
- demonstrate an ability to identify strengths and weaknesses in knowledge and skills, and seek opportunities to address deficits.
- demonstrate an ability to plan and monitor self-directed learning, taking into account the relative merit of learning activities.
- critically appraise scientific evidence and translate research findings into practice.
Interpersonal and Communication Skills: Students must be able to demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange with patients, patients’ families, and professional associates. At the end of the internship year they should be able to:
- communicate effectively with patients and families across a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
- communicate perceptively in difficult situations.
- demonstrate sensitivity in the care of patients by treating them as an individual.
- demonstrate the ability to communicate inter- and intra-professionally.
Professionalism: Students must demonstrate adherence to ethical principles, and a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities in the best interest of the patient and the community. At the end of the internship year they should be able to:
- demonstrate honesty, integrity, respect, reliability, responsibility, and confidentiality in all professional interactions.
- apply principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice, and work to resolve ethical dilemmas as they arise in clinical practice.
- demonstrate empathy, compassion and self-care.
- show commitment to the prevention of vision disorders, eye disease and eye injury, and the promotion of health and wellbeing within the community.
Generic skills
- have highly developed written and oral communication skills
- have enhanced time management skills
- be able to develop new concepts of how to solve problems based on new knowledge obtained
- be able to independently advance their expertise and knowledge
- be able to plan strategies for improving the management of information in the workplace
- be able to work with colleagues to produce the desired outcome
- have developed a sound ethical and social framework so as to contribute to the wider society and the profession
- have developed leadership skills
Last updated: 3 November 2022