Finances

Continuing Education: Avoid Procrastination–and Optimize!

By Diane Palombi, OD

Recently, I scrambled to find one hour of free continuing education (CE) online before the October 31 deadline for my license renewal. I felt a bit like a hypocrite. Back when I interviewed for optometry school, I asked if I would be required to get more education after my graduation. Keeping up to date with my education was very important to me back then. Now I tend to wait until the last minute and panic over meeting deadlines.

Staying ahead of your CE, and finding courses that add to your abilities as a doctor, is important. Here are some of my memories of meeting the CE challenge over the years. Consider yours, and focus on how a little planning can help to optimize the CE you are required to complete.

After optometry school, I looked for fun educational venues. My first CE-related trip was to Las Vegas. I don’t remember much about the convention, but I had a great time in Vegas. I also visited Denver and Chicago for CE.

After I had children, I did not feel that I could justify the time and expense of traveling for my education. I tried the Missouri Optometric Association (MOA) meeting, but felt like a fish out of water. This was partly because I was a woman in a primarily male state association, and partly due to my Lenscrafters association (in the years before I opened my own, independent practice). Commercial optometry was largely frowned on then. I have been to state association meetings more recently, and this is no longer the case.

I often got my education by attending seminars hosted by local ophthalmologists. They were very cordial to us optometrists since we were a source of referral. I found their seminars informative and interesting, and they would usually provide a light dinner at their office. Some even sponsored dinners at restaurants, which I really enjoyed.

When Missouri, the state I practiced in, was vying for optometrists to be able to treat glaucoma, I was forced to take a several-day course on just glaucoma. I was not really interested in treating glaucoma myself, practicing in a metropolitan area that had glaucoma specialists, but if I hadn’t completed this course, I would have lost my therapeutics license, which I needed. I am the kind of person who does not like to be told what to do, so I went to this educational course with a bad attitude. Needless to say, I do not have fond memories of this course.

Over the years, I have attended seminars at my alma mater, the University of Missouri College of Optometry in St. Louis.The education is good, and typically a few of my former classmates are there to catch up with. That is the nice thing about local education: You get to compare notes with people you know. I have even seen some of my former optometry school professors at these functions.

I also like Review of Optometry’s CE. I have taken advantage of the free CE, and occasionally paid the fees for others. Now I can get this education online, of which I take full advantage. Review of Optometry has added webinars to their CE offerings in the past few years. These webinars offer a live lecture on your computer with all the visual special effects you would see in a classroom PowerPoint presentation. They even offer a question and answer session at the end. You do need to pay close attention, however, since you have to pass a test, and there is no written material to help you out. I have found the topics covered in these webinars to be relevant and interesting. Plus, it’s nice to get instant results instead of marking test forms, mailing them off and waiting for the results to be scored and mailed back. Besides Review of Optometry, other sites offer optometric education for free or a fee. I feel like I learn more from the online courses due to the test. You have to pay attention to the subject matter because you need to be able to pass the test versus sitting in a lecture hall and zoning out.

There are many ways of fulfilling your CE requirements these days. All have their advantages and disadvantages. You just have to decide what works best for you.

What is your strategy for fulfilling your CE requirements? What works best for you and why?

Diane Palombi, OD, now retired,owned Palombi Vision Center in Wentzville, Mo. To contact her: dlpod1@hotmail.com

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