Objectives: This course is the first in a series of six courses providing the student with the theoretical and professional skills required for entry into the Primary Care Optometry Clinic. Throughout this series, students will be expected to integrate clinical skills with knowledge of the basic sciences and develop their abilities in problem solving, clinical decision making, case analysis and communication. In particular, these pre-clinical courses will integrate knowledge regarding clinical testing with an understanding of the optics pertaining to the instruments in use. Optometry 2A examines all aspects relating to the ametropias, both theoretical and practical. The course will be delivered through lectures, tutorials, practical classes and self-directed learning.

Brief curriculum: introduction to the role of optometrists as primary eye care providers; the development of refractive error, and related epidemiology and public health issues; the measurement of visual acuity; objective and subjective refraction; prescribing for refractive errors and management of the uncomplicated patient; refractive errors in special populations; the basics of dispensing spectacle prescriptions; optics relating to spectacle lenses and instruments used during refraction.