Accreditation

 CONDITION 1

UWA is required to undergo a site visit by the assessment team at the start of 2023 to:

• view preclinical and clinical facilities and other teaching spaces
• interview a sample of the first and second cohort of students about the program
• interview nominated staff about the program, particularly new appointments
• interview prospective clinical residency program supervisors who have completed the online training
• review arrangements for third year clinical rotations
• speak to the optometry leadership group about any of the conditions of accreditation.

To inform the visit, UWA must before end December 2022:

• provide the completed web-based clinical residency supervisor training, outlining how the training will support adequate supervision of students on placement and inform any mechanisms for feedback to UWA on student performance.
• confirm which elements of the proposed UWA optometry cultural safety program for students have been implemented and detail a timeframe for remaining components, as well as documenting which staff teaching in the optometry program have completed training in cultural safety and participated in any available on-country experiences.
• provide a table updating staffing numbers, staff qualifications, fractions and level of appointments, and roles in the program       
• detail the 10 OSCEs to be conducted at the end of final year, including providing marking rubrics and advising any red flags
• outline the cohort results for the first, and if available, second years of teaching
• provide an update if the planned build of any facilities has been delayed, and if so, report on contingency actions
• advise any program development initiated by UWA since the Stage 2 assessment by the assessment team.

CONDITION 2

In June 2022, the program must report to OCANZ that the program is meeting or exceeding implementation of the program’s planned staff numbers as outlined to OCANZ in the Stage 2 submission supplementary report of 20 October 2021, table titled UWA Optometry Current and Future recruitment.  The report should also address how the recruitment of staff and/or the redistribution of staff duties are ensuring the robustness and continuity of program delivery in the face of any planned and/or unplanned full-time or fractional staffing changes. 

CONDITION 3

At the end of the Year 3, Trimester 1 (May 2023), at the end of Year 3, Trimester 2 (August 2023), and prior to reaccreditation (December 2023) the program must

1. provide aggregated data drawn from Meditrek data plus a short analysis and commentary on the number and diversity of patients being seen by the first cohort of students.  The report must encompass all areas of clinical practice including general examinations, therapeutic management, and special areas of clinical practice such as contact lenses, paediatric, binocular vision and low vision management. The data must include which student encounters are observational, partial or full examinations under supervision. The discipline must also outline how any failure of the clinical residential placement program to meet the agreed diversity of experiences for particular students is being managed.
2. provide in a table all the clinical residency placement sites for each student in the first cohort (de-identified) including: the site type (UWA, corporate, independent, ophthalmology etc.), if external to UWA the name and qualifications of the supervisor/s (including if therapeutically qualified), the length of placement and if the site is offering students participative and/or management experiences in any special clinical areas (including low vision, contact lenses and paediatrics).

CONDITION 4

The OSCEs to be held for the first cohort at the end of the program (November 2023) are to have significant involvement of independent external assessors acceptable to OCANZ.  OCANZ will send one assessment team member to observe the delivery of the final OSCES.

CONDITION 5

The reaccreditation submission (due 31 December 2023) must include a report on a formal review of the ways in which program is delivering content in:

Contact lenses

Paediatrics

Myopia management

Binocular Vision

Low vision

Therapeutics

Glaucoma

This review is to address the volume of learning and patient management in each area and the efficacy of integrating it vertically (separation across years) and horizontally (across units) throughout the program. This review is to include external input.

The assessment team recommends a full site visit in early 2024 for the purposes of assessing the program for reaccreditation.  This timing will allow OCANZ to assess the outcomes for the first cohort of students entering the program.

The Discipline is required, within its annual report, to include any changes made to the program in the preceding year and describe any significant changes to the resources allocated to the program during that year.

UPDATE: OCANZ deemed Condition 2 has been met in August 2022.

UPDATE: OCANZ deemed Condition 1 met in May, 2023.

UPDATE: After 2023 site visit, the accreditation date has been extended to 31 December 2024.

Update: OCANZ deemed Condition 4 has been met in February 2024.