Optometry Inherent Requirements

Students are expected to act in accordance with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) Code of Conduct as well as comply with the academic conduct policies of Deakin University and relevant Australian legislation.

Progression through the course and graduation is contingent on demonstrating professional attitudes and behaviour throughout the course and certain assessments are linked to this expectation, as these are essential for optometric practice. For example, in all aspects of their professional life, optometrists must put patients first and demonstrate respectful, culturally safe practice.

Any adjustments to course requirements for individual students must not compromise the Code of Conduct and result in unethical behaviour. For example, students requiring assistance to collect confidential patient information for portfolio writing may require permission from a placement provider to utilise the assistance of a learning support worker to ensure health records are not subject to unauthorised access.

Adjustments to course requirements must also not compromise academic policies of Deakin University or result in illegal behaviour.

Optometry degrees are demanding and students require cognitive skills to solve complex problems. Optometric practice requires the ability to synthesise and respond to complex oral, written and pictorial information. Practitioners are required to accumulate considerable amounts of knowledge and to perform mathematical calculations for diagnosis and therapy. Ability to understand three-dimensional relationships is essential for anatomy, imaging and clinical examination and procedures. Consequently, the ability to process complex verbal, written and other forms of information is essential. 

Performance of a full optometric examination includes the detection of abnormalities by observation, manipulation and palpation of the eye and surrounding tissues and the assessment of visual function. Practitioners must be able to efficiently use a variety of examination equipment including both monocular and binocular ophthalmoscopes, binocular slit lamp biomicroscopes, contact tonometers and gonioscopy lenses. Other fine motor skill tasks undertaken by optometrists include handling, insertion and removal of contact lenses, removal of foreign bodies from the ocular surface and instillation of eye drops. They must also be able to visualise and interpret the information revealed through the use of clinical instruments (including automated perimeters, optical coherence tomographers and fundus photography) and clinical examination techniques.

Motor or sensory deficits do not preclude the practice of optometry, although students should be able to demonstrate reasonable and adequate strategies that would enable them to independently practise optometry in a safe fashion.

Optometry students and qualified optometrists must be able to maintain professional relationships with all patients and colleagues and to complete demanding workloads under stressful conditions. Optometrists must be willing to complete a full ocular examination of both male and female patients, be prepared to put patient care above their own interests and to maintain confidentiality and high ethical standards. While students are expected to be compassionate and emotionally robust, they should also be able to recognise situations where their emotional or physical state precludes effective delivery of services and manage these in a professional manner.

The Deakin Optometry program includes a strong emphasis on professional behaviour. During clinical training, students will practice their clinical skills on fellow students. It is expected that students participate in such learning activities in a respectful and collegial manner.

Students should endeavour to ensure the consequences of any physical or mental health condition and/or the treatment associated with any health condition, are well controlled, such that they are able to deal with the rigours of a demanding and, at times, inflexible course curriculum.

Students must recognise that participation in and travel to and from, placements is a requirement of the course and that professional interactions with both patients and colleagues is expected and required at all times.

Any adjustments should aim to support students to sustain professional behaviour in academic and/or placement settings for a negotiated period of time.

Optometric practice in Australia requires advanced oral and written communication skills. Practitioners need to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients, relatives and carers from all walks of life, irrespective of ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religious beliefs, or physical or psychological disability.

An ability to gather, synthesise and evaluate information by verbal, written, pictorial and non-verbal means of communication is essential. Optometrists must also be capable of delivering concise, comprehensible written and verbal advice to patients, relatives, carers and professional colleagues.

Any adjustments must not compromise the clarity and accuracy of the information provided and must be effective and timely.

Optometrists need to be able to identify relevant knowledge and utilise appropriate diagnostic criteria and skills in order to effectively understand and respond to the eye care needs of their patients.

Optometry Australia’s Entry-level Competency Standards for Optometry 2022 specify the range of knowledge and practice approaches which all optometry graduates are expected to be familiar with. Consequently, students cannot be exempted from being exposed to particular knowledge or approaches on the basis that these will not be needed in their anticipated fields of work.

Any adjustments must ensure that graduates have all the relevant skills and knowledge expected of an optometrist.

Students with a criminal record are not precluded from enrolling in the optometry degree at Deakin but may face difficulties in obtaining placements which are required to complete the degree.

All students are required to obtain a Police Check and a Working with Children Check and placement providers may decline to accept a student on placement due to the nature of the information about their offending and the timing of the last offence.

In particular, many placement providers are reluctant to place students whom they perceive may place patients, staff, or the organisation itself at risk, e.g. when offending has involved crimes of violence against children or adults, or crimes of deception such as fraud and embezzlement.

Deakin does not require any student to have a driver’s licence but encourages students to obtain one if possible. Students must recognise that participation in and travel to and from, clinical placements is a requirement of the course. During the course these clinical placements may be in the central Melbourne area and surrounds, in the Greater Geelong region and Lorne and in the latter part of the course students may be required to spend an extended period of time in residence anywhere in Victoria or Australia.

Organisations which require students to drive as part of their placement work should provide access to an agency vehicle and not expect students to have their own car.

Students and practising optometrists are a potential source of infection for patients and colleagues, particularly for immunocompromised patients. Prior to commencing clinical placements students are expected to have a current immunisation status including COVID-19 vaccinations. Information will be provided to applicants once they enrol in the course. The School of Medicine will guide you through this process.

Students are required to declare their immunisation status to satisfy the requirements of placement organisations where they will be undertaking their professional learning experience. A placement organisation may refuse to accept a student for placement if the student’s immunisation status is not satisfactory to the placement organisation.

On completion of the course, students wishing to register to practise as an optometrist will have to meet the Optometry Board of Australia’s Registration Standards and sign a declaration pertaining to their character and capacity to practise optometry in a safe manner. Failure to be able to sign this declaration, or the making of a false declaration, may result in the individual being unable to register and practise. Students should therefore ensure that they are able to sign and comply with the aspects of the declaration.

Key questions in the declaration include:

• Do you have any criminal history in Australia?
• Do you have any criminal history in another country?
• Do you have an impairment that detrimentally affects, or is likely to detrimentally affect, your capacity to practise the profession?

Students and potential students should also be aware that this declaration contains statements pertaining to English language skills that are particularly relevant to individuals who did not complete their secondary studies in an English speaking environment and could result in them having to sit a diagnostic English language test within 2 years of applying for registration.

Further confidential advice on this declaration may be obtained by contacting the Optometry Board of Australia.

Deakin is committed to providing access to learning for all students. Apart from the mandatory inherent requirements that every student needs to demonstrate, Deakin and placement agencies may be able to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of students without compromising the academic integrity of the program.

These may include adjustments to learning and teaching activities, assessment tasks and other course requirements. If you have a health condition or impairment that might impact your participation in this course, the Disability Resource Centre (DRC) can provide advice and support to Deakin students.

With advice from the DRC, some reasonable adjustments can be made to teaching, learning, assessment, practice education (placements) and other activities that address the impact of your health conditions and impairments on your study.