In Contact - August 2007

Being the Best?

It's been a hectic few weeks?
I write this having just returned from taking part in the Melbourne leg of the Johnson and Johnson Vision Care, ?Be the Best you Can Be? seminar series. As you may know J&J are major sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, hence the ?best you can be? aspect to the lecture series.
A report on the Auckland leg of the road-show is featured elsewhere in this issue.
It was a pleasure to contribute to this series of lectures covering kids, teens and contact lenses, astigmatism and fitting with confidence, performance vision, being the best in communication, computers, contact lenses and comfort and a closing contact lens case series and problem solving.
Howard Purcell, OD came out especially from the US for this series. He is the senior director of new program development for Vistakon, a division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care and was formerly director of the Vision Care Institute of J&J. With a background in clinical practise and academia, his credentials and experience are top drawer and ideal for a series of this nature.
I was honoured to co-present with such a stimulating, enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker. His presentation style was rapid-fire and engaging. By the time the series in ANZ is completed, around four hundred people will have taken part. A number requested repeats or enquired as to the possibility of having similar sessions run in their area or for a group of staff and practitioners. Others who missed out, having heard rave reviews from colleagues who attended, have also enquired if they would get another chance to attend. One delegate even flew from Sydney to Melbourne, at their own cost, as Sydney was over subscribed.
Howard presented most of the aforementioned topics and I covered the astigmatism and case series. His was a tough act to follow.
Delegates reckoned these CPD points to be the best-value attainable in one-go in Australasia, these past few years.

Inspiration

A famous Olympian spoke at each venue and covered issues such as motivation and commitment.
It's always a boost to hear from people like this and an inspiration to all.
As will be reported by Anita in the next issue, Danyon Loader attended the NZ event. In Melbourne Dr Adrian Hurley provided a ton of inspiration and areas on which to focus. He summed it up thus; ?Every person is different and unique and therefore our paths and methods to fulfilment and success are not always the same. The task and challenge is to take your strengths and synergise them into a ?critical mass? that drives you forward to be the best you can be.?
We similarly derived plenty of value from the session on communication which Howard skilfully presented. With some role playing we had a bit of fun too.
As one should.
Dry, boring, repetitive education in the form of a ?sermon? is not most people?s idea of fun.
Learning while having fun is way more effective.

Discussion

There was some discussion regarding a number of issues previously covered in this column regarding CIEs, staining, its relevance and other lens and solution related issues. Some of this is also covered in an excellent summary of the recent 2007 BCLA conference. Check it out in the online edition of the UK based Optician. It will keep you abreast of many of the latest issues and developments.
We forget what a valuable publication Optician is: Full of useful, broad based info on eyecare.
Too much CPD these days is so focussed on path and TPAs that some of the basics and cornerstones of optometry seem to have been forgotten.

Feedback

Of course it doesn?t matter what I say It's what attendees think and here follow two examples of the fantastic response to the series and specifically our visiting speaker and topics covered!
From Auckland, via email;
?Thank you so much for organising and inviting us to the seminar held at the Hyatt. The talks were invaluable and the keynote speaker was fantastic and kept us captivated all day.?
A delegate at the Melbourne session wrote this on their feedback form;
?In 14 years of going to optometry seminars, this would have to be the most interesting and enjoyable. Thank you!?
There were many other similar comments. What it also tells me is that provided the speaker is captivating and the content relevant, then people can indeed sit through ninety minute presentations and still comment positively. Our sessions varied from forty, to one hundred minutes. Some of the best feedback related to the longest ?
One cannot do justice to many specialised areas of Optometry, in ten minutes.
I don't like the current swing to conferences that only deal with path and TPAs and in fact now vote with my feet. I'm becoming highly selective about CPD and what I will and won?t attend, as are some colleagues
Compulsory CPD must, by definition, cover a wide variety of topics. If not it will defeat the purpose of forcing the ?slackers? to remain up to date in a wide range of optometric subjects. We all know optometry is broad ranging.
If contact lens freaks only attend CL-CPD and path freaks only attend path lectures then compulsory CPD has failed. It should enforce education in areas we are not as up-to-date as we should be but not at the cost of all else.
We should have a much wider range of topics covered in general optometric conferences in NZ.

Error or Terror?

During question time a delegate at the Auckland meeting stated I'd incorrectly explained how the percentage of corneal staining was calculated in the Andrasko staining grid. It turns out I was indeed correct. [I never slept through Lyndon?s excellent lecture series at the CCLS conference in Queenstown this past March.] I also spent a whole day learning all about this controversial issue at a seminar presented by two overseas experts in Sydney a few months ago. At the same time I go to a great deal of trouble not to present or publish incorrect facts. So here are the facts, for anyone who is confused. there's also a detailed FAQ.
Here?s a link to the relevant CCLRU grading scale that explains the five regions of the cornea that are observed in calculating these percentages.
We also discussed various useful papers and websites that cover things such as local and general forms of CLPC and their varying aetiology.
Don Korb?s Lid Wiper Epitheliopathy also came up as did grading of tarsal hyperaemia. The J&J sponsored CCLRU grading scales are now online via the siliconehydrogels website and worth saving to your favourites but take heed of the copyright notice!
there's a website http://www.bethebestyoucanbe.org/ that covers some aspects of the seminars. It also provides Q&A and gives some idea of the agenda.

The Best?

The ABs proved they were the best by winning the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup. Were they the best they can be? Probably not but then again nor were the Springboks. The forthcoming Rugby World Cup should prove who really is best. No more resting the best.
No more excuses.
Lewis Hamilton still tries his hardest to be the best he can be at Formula 1 and his amazing first season proves that. His driving certainly gave a few older drivers a rev-up to lift their game and be the best they can be.

In Conclusion.

One thing can easily be deduced from some of the research in contact lenses. It's also reinforced by all the solution dramas, MK, CIEs, GPC, CLPUs and case reports.
Daily Disposables reduce most of the problems to the absolute minimum currently possible.
It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned and something I have written and lectured on for more years than I care to remember.
Slowly it seems the message is getting through yet more work needs to be done, both from an industry perspective as well as on the part of educators and practitioners.
The range of one day lenses keeps expanding. We can fit more and more people within and even outside the bell curve.
CIBA recently extended their daily range of available cylinder powers and CooperVision have also launched their 55% 1 day toric lens.
J&J have also just released their 1 Day Acuvue for Astigmatism. Based on the same dynamic stabilisation design as Advance for Astigmatism, I've had some good results. Some have been at the extreme Rx range and failures in previous contact lens attempts.
Contact the respective suppliers for details of Rx range and other design, physiological and performance factors.
So It's good news on the daily disposable lens front and I can tell you with reasonable confidence that sooner or later we will also be getting some high Dk, one day options.
Who it will be that's first to market in this modality, I honestly do not know.
As I've said before, the first manufacturer to achieve this - in a lens with significant bells and whistles - for around a dollar per lens per day, may well deliver the knockout blow. They?ll take a large percentage of the contact lens market, for many years to come.
More from me in September after the 12th ICLC, followed by a few days of R&R at Noosa. A number of dynamic speakers mentioned in the J&J series will be presenting at this meeting: Gary Gerber a magical optometric management expert will be there as will myopia genesis guru Earl Smith and paediatric specialist Jeff Walline.
They will certainly help you be the best you can.
See you at Sea World?
Yeehah

 

For more information or any comments email Alan at incontact@optom.co.nz.