Layout 1
OM Symposium:
The Sequel Meets Lofty Standards
The Optometric Management Symposium
on Contemporary Eye Care scores big with meeting attendees.
Although
sequels can be risky affairs, the second annual "Optometric Management Symposium
on Contemporary Eyecare" met the lofty standards set by the first year's meeting.
More than 300 optometrists and allied vision care professionals attended the symposium,
held in November at the Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Fla.
While
the meeting provided all
the amenities of a vacation resort, attendees received as many
as 26 hours of continuing education (CE) credit in subjects critical to progressive
optom-etrists, including glaucoma diagnosis and management, ocular surgery comanagement,
keratoconus management, ocular pharmacology, contact lenses and practice management.
Course Directors Deepak Gupta, O.D.,
and Walter D. West, O.D., developed a program
that coupled the diverse topics with leading experts in optometry today. "Once again
this meeting was awesome," says Dr. Gupta. "When you combine well-respected lecturers
who are experts in their fields, with the practical approach Optometric Management
offers, and the fact that everything was held at Disney World, this is the best
overall meeting around. The only thing better is going to be OMS 2007."
Brought to you by. . .
Key to the meeting's success were
the ophthalmic companies that sponsored the mealtime seminars. Alcon, Alimera Sciences,
Bausch & Lomb, Carl Zeiss Meditec, CooperVision, Odyssey and Unilens all shared
their expertise in terms of products, services and information on topics ranging
from dry eye to disease to contact lenses. Additional exhibits by Briot USA, Eyemaginations,
Marco and Ziemer Ophthalmics rounded out the exhibit hall and provided information
on leading-edge technologies in eye care.
The CE difference
Attendees attributed much of the
value of OMS to its educational program. Over one weekend, some were able to earn
all their CE credits for the year. However, the optometrists in attendance applauded
not only the quantity of CE, but also the quality. OMS provided "great information
from some of optometry's best speakers," said one attendee. Another commented that
the OMS schedule is great with "lots of CE in a very efficient manner."
The
curriculum and instructors included:
Clinical
Pearls in Diagnosing Glaucoma (Murray Fingeret, O.D.)
Comanaging
Ocular Surgery (J. James Thimons, O.D.)
Guide to Ocular Laser Surgery (Dr. Thimons)
Complete
Update on Ocular Pharmacology (Ronald Melton, O.D., and Randall Thomas, O.D.)
Practice
Management: When Good Enough Isn't Good Enough Anymore (Dr. West)
Competing
with 1-800 Numbers for Your CL Business (Dr. Gupta)
Contact
Lens Update (Ernie Bowling, O.D.)
Keratoconus
(Dr. Bowling).
See you in 2007
The Optometric Management Symposium
2007 will be held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in the Buena Vista Palace Resort at Walt
Disney World. The best reason to go perhaps was given by an attendee at last year's
meeting, an O.D. with 25 years experience: "This is the best meeting I've attended."
Optometric Management, Issue: February 2007