Assessment of patients in clinical practice often begins with the eye, yet many serious conditions may originate beyond it. Recognising key red flags is essential to guide timely diagnosis and management of neuro-ophthalmic conditions that may be vision threatening and life threatening. This interactive webinar will explore a systematic approach to history taking, clinical examination, and imaging to help identify some serious neuro-ophthalmic presentations requiring urgent referral..

Learning Objectives

1. Recognise critical findings in patient history and examination that may suggest underlying intracranial or systemic pathology
2. Improve confidence in the clinical work up of patients presenting with neuro-ophthalmological signs/ symptoms
3. Enhance clinical confidence in identifying urgent vs non-urgent referrals

Summary

This interactive webinar, presented by Michael Yapp will identify key learnings using case examples drawn from his last 16 years at Centre for Eye Health.  The talk is aimed at empowering optometrists to take a larger role in managing ocular disease in their own practice.  Over the last 16 years, imaging technologies have developed rapidly and are now readily accessible in community practice, presenting an opportunity for community optometrists to care for a range of patients with ocular disease, including ocular hypertension, early glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or AMD. By assuming the care of appropriate patients such as these, some of the current burden on the public health ophthalmology may be eased allowing improved access for those patients needing ophthalmological care. During this presentation, participants will have the opportunity to discuss key themes in small groups, learning from each other’s experiences also.

Learning objectives:

1. To understand and best utilise the current scope of practice for optometry.
2. To be able to identify key “red flags” that indicate patient care should be escalated to Ophthalmology or other medical professionals.
3. To understand the key professional attributes required for successful management of ocular disease in community practice