Clinical Competence & Patient Safety
Missed findings or prescribing concerns
Performance, safe care, medicines and teamwork.
Program total A$1,065
Optometrists · Optometry Board of Australia
Ethics and Professionalism Courses for Optometrists in Australia
Many optometrists examine eyes a few metres from a retail floor, with sales figures that someone, somewhere, is watching. Add therapeutic prescribing and the duty to refer quickly when something sinister appears, and you have a profession where clinical, commercial and ethical judgement meet several times a day. These courses are built for that mix.
- Grounded in the code the Optometry Board applies
- Certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time
- Relevant to independent, corporate and therapeutic practice
Where the risk sits for optometrists
Clinical care accounts for well over 40% of concerns raised about optometrists, and communication comes a clear second. In practice the two are often the same story: a symptom that was mentioned but not explored, advice that was given but not written down, or a referral the patient did not realise was urgent.
Watch
CPD registration standard
Optometry CPD with and without therapeutic prescribing
The Optometry Board's revised CPD registration standard took effect on 1 December 2020.
| Requirement | General registration | With the scheduled medicines endorsement |
|---|---|---|
| Hours each year | 20 | 30, with 10 or more linked to the endorsement |
| Non-clinical or non-scientific learning | Up to 5 hours may count | Up to 5 hours may count |
| Interactive learning with peers | 5 hours or more | 5 hours or more |
| CPR | Every three years | Every three years |
| Must activities be formally recognised? | No, though each must meet the standard's criteria | No, though each must meet the standard's criteria |
Source: Optometry Board CPD registration standard and guidance. Ethics learning may fall within the non-clinical cap, so check how you categorise it.
Fitting ethics into an optometry CPD plan
Because non-clinical learning counts for up to five hours, think about where ethics and professionalism fit. A course on consent or documentation that changes how you examine and advise patients may be clinically relevant; a course on business ethics may sit in the non-clinical share. Record each one honestly in the category that suits it.
If you hold the therapeutic endorsement, use your 10 endorsement hours for therapeutic learning, and record any prescribing-ethics content accurately against the right category. Before you declare at renewal, check four things: total hours met, non-clinical hours within the cap, at least five interactive hours, and the endorsement hours if they apply to you.
Optometry Board, 2024/25
Notifications about optometrists
- notifications about 71 optometrists nationally, 1.0% of the profession
- 81
- Optometry Board annual summary 2024/25
- of finalised notifications resulted in conditions or an undertaking
- 17.1%
- Optometry Board annual summary 2024/25
What the figures say
Medication concerns are a small share and mostly involve optometrists prescribing under the endorsement. The larger lesson is in the first two categories. Clinical care and communication together make up almost two thirds of concerns, and when matters close, more than one in six ends with conditions or an undertaking. That is a high rate for a profession with relatively few notifications, and it reflects how serious a missed sight-threatening condition can be.
Scenarios
Five optometry situations and the learning that suits each
Composite examples, invented for teaching.
| Situation | Where the risk lies | Learning that fits |
|---|---|---|
| A patient mentions a curtain across part of their vision on the way out. The optometrist suggests booking a follow-up next week and writes nothing about the remark. | Clinical care, urgency and records | Clinical competence; documentation and record-keeping |
| Head office introduces monthly targets for premium coatings, and a pensioner complains that she left with a package she could not afford. | Conflicts of interest and financial consent | Probity and financial integrity; informed and financial consent |
| After starting a patient on a topical steroid, an optometrist with prescribing rights books no review and does not inform the GP. | Medicines safety and continuity of care | Prescribing standards; clinical competence program |
| A shopfront promotion promises 'free glasses' with conditions only in small print, and patients feel tricked at the counter. | Advertising and honesty | Advertising a regulated health service; probity program |
| Parents ask about slowing their child's myopia. They leave with one recommendation and no discussion of other approaches, how strong the research is, or what it will cost over the years. | Informed and financial consent | Communication, consent and open disclosure program |
Program
Probity & Professional Integrity for optometrists
Commercial pressure, advertising and honest records are where optometry differs most from other allied professions, so this is the program many optometrists start with.
Includes 4 courses
- Probity and Financial Integrity for Health Practitioners About 2 hours · A$189
- Professionalism in Documentation and Record-Keeping About 2 hours · A$189
- Medicare Billing Compliance and the Professional Services Review About 3 hours · A$309
- Privacy, Health Records and My Health Record in Australian Practice About 3 hours · A$309
- Probity and financial integrity
- Documentation and record-keeping
- Medicare billing compliance
- Privacy and health records
A$996 is the total of the four course prices (two at A$189, two at A$309). No discount is applied.
Other programs that suit optometrists
Communication, Consent & Open Disclosure
What the patient understood
Communication, consent, disclosure and dignity.
Program total A$876
Ahpra Notification Response
A notification is open
From the process to rebuilding trust.
Program total A$1,323
Written for optometrists
The two core optometry courses, then the profession course
Start with the two courses written around the Optometry Board's expectations. The third is a three-hour course on ethics and professionalism across optometric practice.
Core · ethics
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Optometrists
Ethical reasoning for optometrists: autonomy, honest advice, fees, children and fairness.
Core · professionalism
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Optometrists
Professional standards in optometry: referral, records, prescribing responsibility and corporate settings.
Optometrists · in depth
Ethics and Professionalism for Optometrists in Australia
A longer course on ethics and professionalism in independent, corporate and therapeutic practice.
Professionalism in Documentation and Record-Keeping
Recording symptoms, advice, declined tests and referrals.
Probity and Financial Integrity for Health Practitioners
Sales targets, incentives and honest billing.
Informed Consent and Financial Consent in Australian Practice
Explaining options and costs, including for children.
Prescribing Standards and Safe Medicines Practice
Safe prescribing and follow-up for therapeutic optometrists.
Advertising a Regulated Health Service: Applying the Ahpra Advertising Guidelines
Offers, discounts and claims under the advertising rules.
Effective Communication with Patients and Families
Making urgency clear when a patient needs to act quickly.
Your code
The code you practise under
Optometrists are regulated against the shared Code of conduct, the same document that eleven other Boards apply and that has governed optometry since the middle of 2022. Its sections on conflicts of interest, financial arrangements, informed consent and record-keeping are especially relevant to a profession that combines clinical care with retail.
The Optometry Board also publishes guidelines for practitioners who use scheduled medicines. If you hold the endorsement, those guidelines and the shared code together describe what a Board would expect of your prescribing.
Before you renew
A quick renewal check for optometrists
- Hours20 in total, or 30 if you hold the therapeutic endorsement.
- Non-clinical capNo more than 5 non-clinical or non-scientific hours counted.
- Interactive learningAt least 5 hours with other practitioners.
- CPRCurrent within the three-year cycle.
- Reflection and evidenceCertificates filed, each with a short note on how it changed your practice.
Not sure where to start?
The course advisor asks about your profession and situation and suggests a short list, starting with the two optometry courses where they fit.
Open the course advisorFurther reading
Course outlines for optometrists
- Ethics and Ethical Standards for OptometristsCore course outline
- Professionalism and Professional Standards for OptometristsCore course outline
- Advertising a regulated health serviceOffers and promotions
- Probity and financial integrityTargets and incentives
- Probity and professional integrity programFour courses together
The Optometry Board of Australia regulates optometrists, supported by Ahpra.
Questions optometrists ask
How many CPD hours do optometrists need?
Twenty a year for general registration. Holders of the scheduled medicines endorsement need thirty, ten or more of them related to prescribing. Five hours or more must be interactive, and no more than five may be non-clinical.
Does an ethics course count as clinical CPD?
It depends on its content and how it changes your practice. Learning that changes how you examine, advise or record may be clinically relevant; business ethics usually sits in the non-clinical share. Record it honestly.
Can your courses be my interactive hours?
No. They are self-paced individual learning. Arrange interactive learning, such as a peer discussion group or live session, separately.
Is there a separate code for optometrists?
No. Optometrists use the shared Code of conduct, plus the Board's guidelines on specific matters such as scheduled medicines.
My employer sets sales targets. Is that my problem or theirs?
Both. The national interim guidance on conflicts of interest expects employers not to set targets that override patients' interests, and it expects practitioners not to let targets shape their recommendations.
Which course helps after a missed finding?
Usually the documentation course and the clinical competence program, followed by reflection on what you now do differently when a patient mentions a warning symptom.
Will a course change the outcome of a notification?
No course can promise that. Relevant learning with honest reflection and evidence of change can help show insight.
Can a practice or group enrol several optometrists?
Yes. Choose courses for several people on the multi-course page, or contact us.
NSW and Queensland
If you practise in NSW or Queensland
Complaints about NSW optometrists are handled by the Optometry Council of New South Wales with the Health Care Complaints Commission. In Queensland, the Office of the Health Ombudsman receives complaints first. Your code and CPD standard are national, and the Probity Courses editorial team writes and updates these courses against them.
Build this year's optometry CPD
Start with the two core courses, then add the topics that match your practice.