23 April 2020
If your practice has been closed or you’ve been furloughed, or if you’re a locum, you might be finding yourself with a lot of time on your hands at the moment.
So, if you’re able, why not use this opportunity to spend some time learning? From boosting your CET points to learning coping strategies via webinars, there’s a lot to keep you occupied. Here are just a few options…
Get your CET points
As an AOP member you can achieve your required (non-interactive) CET points via OT’s CET exam portal. Here you can take a range of CET, VRICS and CET Video exams to get up to that all-important 36 points, as well as accessing a number of expired exams for practice. All our articles are written by experts or professionals from within the sector.
Join an e-learning academy
There’s a wealth of educational opportunity out there for optical professionals, with Menicon and CooperVision amongst the organisations that are offering e-learning opportunities.Menicon’s newly launched e-learning academy is designed to help eye care practitioners and those involved with contact lens work maximise success in contact lens fitting, via online modules demonstrating Menicon products. Aiming to help practitioners’ improve their skills, each 10-minute module has a mix of video, audio, animation, text and interactive questions.
CooperVision also has an e-learning platform, which the company launched early in order to support the optical sector during the COVID-19 lockdown. The platform hosts online training courses that are designed to develop the communication, clinical and technical skills of clinical and retail staff in optical practices.
OT itself will be launching a new look education hub soon too, which we’re very excited about. Watch this space for more info…
Learn about coping strategies
If you’re struggling with the enormity of your current situation, you might find the webinars that are being run by the Hakim Group useful. Covering issues from making difficult choices to effective time management, the webinars are designed to help optical practitioners successfully navigate the current situation.Join an AOP webinar
The AOP has been running various webinars to help individuals and practices navigate the COVID-19 crisis. The next webinar is specifically for locums, and will focus on the changes that HMRC will be making to self-employed people’s tax arrangements from next year. You can also catch up on previous webinars from the AOP, including those on COVID-19 emergency care, how to improve your interview skills, and the GOC’s revised business standards.
We hope these learning opportunities prove useful during this period of uncertainty. If you have any other useful learning resources that you think we should know about, please do let us know.