Keeping an eye on the future
By Andrea Carthew
As the only English-language optometry program in Canada, the University of Waterloo has a great responsibility to prepare our graduates to safeguard, manage and treat the vision care needs of Canadians.
To do this, we must evolve in how we educate our students. Our Be Visionary project was the first stage of a strategic initiative focused on identifying the needs of contemporary optometric practice, and developing a plan to address the impact this has on optometric education. At the centre of this initiative is the development of a new School curriculum, shaped around the Canadian Examiners in Optometry’s 2015 National Competency Profile, to expand our scope in the classroom and clinical setting to create new educational opportunities.
Curriculum redevelopment will identify some of the capital, technological and programmatic resources needed to implement transformational changes to the optometric program including creating a new clinical environment, adding simulation teaching technology and expanding residencies and externships.
Can you see what comes next?
The Be Visionary project has established a broad framework for what will come next. The School will review the program’s needs, which will be centred on the new curriculum; the needs of the profession, based on expanded scope of practice; and the needs of the health community at large, with a focus on interprofessional patient care.
With curriculum development in progress, the School will also undertake a more comprehensive visioning process, strategically looking to the future of contemporary optometry and how to shape teaching, research and patient care. We will then engage in a greater consultation process with the teaching and research community, industry, the optometry profession and the medical community. It is anticipated that these initiatives will have a positive impact on the scope of the Be Visionary project, which may include an expansion and/or redevelopment of priorities.
A project like this is an ambitious and transformational initiative that will affect how optometric education is delivered for generations to come. The financial investment required to implement such change will be significant. It is critical that we take the time to review, consult, consider and Be Visionary in how we evolve and grow the program.
Clinic Infrastructure
The development of new clinical infrastructure is a fundamental need for the School. We have begun the process of defining what this looks like not just physically, but more importantly how it best serves patients, students, the medical community and our local community. We anticipate that plans developed to date will further evolve in the coming months once the new curriculum, strategic vision and consultation are complete.
Planning timeframe: 2016 followed by Implementation: 2017-2020
Timelines are being driven by both our internal requirements, but more importantly the needs and expectations of the students, the profession and greater user communities we serve. To preserve our stature as one of the preeminent optometry programs in the world, there is a sense of urgency to implement transformational changes to the program while also maintaining or exceeding standards for our teaching, clinical and research mandates.