OPB654 Ocular Pharmacology

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

Optometrists have achieved a legislative framework that enables them to use pharmaceutical agents both in the examination of the eye and in the treatment of eye disease. This unit relates pharmacological principles to the eye and ocular conditions. You will gain an understanding of how pharmaceutical agents are used to examine the eye and to treat eye diseases (this includes both topical, oral and injected agents).

You will develop knowledge of ocular pharmacology, an area of pharmacology that informs the diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of ocular pathology. You will learn how to safely use and apply diagnostic agents utilised in the ocular examination. You will improve your ability to source relevant information, critically assess clinical trial studies, and enhance your communication skills by analyzing a case scenario and giving a presentation (you will learn and be able to use Gen AI in this task). 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Safely and appropriately use ocular diagnostic agents.
2. Explain and apply essential pharmacological principles and terminology, related to the eye.
3. Compare and contrast the mechanisms of drugs used in either ocular diagnosis or therapy.
4. Collaborate effectively with peers in teams to research, including using Gen AI digital technologies, and resolve clinical problems.
5. Communicate in an adaptive and professional manner when advising patients, collaborating with team members, and presenting to academics and peers.

Content

Learning Approaches

There will be a series of face-to-face lectures, online materials, and practical activities related to the use of diagnostic ocular agents. Students will develop knowledge of ocular pharmacology, a particular area of pharmacology that informs the diagnosis of and therapeutic treatment of ocular pathology. Students will enhance their teamwork skills during the group practical tasks and the case-based scenario assessment. Student's ability to source, assess and present clinically relevant material will be developed; they will be required to use digital technologies to complete these tasks. Student's will consider how diverse viewpoints can affect ocular drug compliance.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Quizzes to allow students to review their own learning will be provided using online interactive computer applications. Students can use these automated quizzes to review the information presented and gain feedback on their understanding of the lecture materials. 

Feedback will be provided from the academic teaching team regarding the summative assessment in the unit, with opportunity for individual feedback, and general discussion of the assessment outcomes. Feedback on practical skills assessment will be provided. Summative feedback on the case scenario assessment task will be provided using Canvas. Individual performance feedback will be provided on the end-of-semester examination using Canvas and collective class feedback based on topic themes will be provided.

Assessment

Overview

You will be given the opportunity to ask questions in lecture and practical sessions. Online quizzes will allow students to review their own learning.

The summative assessment consists of three main tasks.

Throughout the semester you will attend four practical sessions. Students will, with a small group of fellow students, lead one practical session. You will work collaboratively and use your organisational and teamwork skills to guide fellow students through the activities that need to be completed. Optometrists often work in a team situation and delegate tasks to practice staff; this is an important skill to develop. In completing this task, you should take on the role of an optometrist in managing your team. The second phase of this assessment is as the learner. You will actively participate in all the practical sessions and complete worksheets under the guidance of the peer-teachers to reinforce your learning during the practical session. Optometrists often work closely with, and share knowledge and training with colleagues, and the ability to work collaboratively and engage in peer learning is an important skill to develop.

In the second assessment task you will be given a therapeutic case scenario, your task is to determine the best treatment plan and how to communicate this to the patient. You will work with your team to research the condition, find evidence on appropriate treatments, their relative efficacy and safety, and develop the best course of action. You will submit this as a group written report and give a short presentation to fellow students, both to improve your verbal communication and presentations skills and as a peer learning exercise. In considering your communication strategy you will consider how to encourage adherence to the suggested management. You will individually reflect on how you contributed to the team, how your teamwork skills are developing and your academic contribution to this task. You will use Gen AI in this task and consider how it can be used to improve efficiency of information gathering and developing audience appropriate communication resources and also assess how the assistance provided needs to be carefully critiqued.

The third assessment task will be held in the central exam period at the end of semester. This written exam will assess the depth of your understanding of the ocular pharmacology of both diagnostic and therapeutic agents and drug mechanisms for ocular treatments. 

Detailed information on each of these assessments is provided on the Canvas site. To assist your exam preparation a session that includes sample questions and how to tackle answering these questions is provided.

Satisfactory performance in the end-semester exam is a condition for passing this unit. This means that at least 50% must be obtained on the end of semester examination for a passing grade to be awarded. 

None of these assessment tasks meet the criteria for the automatic 48 hr extension.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Practical Activities

Over the four practical sessions, students will undertake a variety of practical clinical activities that are designed to solidify learning about diagnostic agents, as well as further develop their clinical, communication and teamwork skills.  The assessment will include working with fellow students to lead one practical exercise, giving a short introduction to the task, assisting fellow students and discussing the main outcomes. As an individual, students will complete a work sheet about each practical during the practical classes.  

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.

Assessment: Group Assignment

The group task is to analyse an optometric therapeutic case i.e., a patient with an eye condition seeking your advice and treatment. Case studies are a powerful learning tool used by a small team to collectively solve real issues and problems. These are real life simulated activities to assist students prepare for scenarios they may encounter in optometric practice.

Your task as a group will be to determine the best treatment plan and what advice you need to provide the patient about the treatment you are planning to prescribe. You will need to show your understanding of how to choose the best treatment for the patient and how to communicate this in a concise and easily understandable way. Assume you can prescribe any topical ocular medication on the optometry board approved list and OTC oral medications. If the best treatment involves oral or other medications (e.g. compounded) then explain these medication options and suggest referral if required.

Consider how you will ensure the patient is involved in the treatment decision and understands the treatment plan, and steps to take to improve compliance with the treatment.

The task includes a short-written report (10%) and oral presentation to the class (5%). You should take the role of an optometrist in analysis of the case and its treatment. Report length 750 (+/- 10%) words + references + 6 slides for use in the presentation + 200 (+/- 10%) word individual reflection + Appendix on Gen AI. 10-minute group oral presentation.

Case Analysis: Describe the problem the patient has. What are the details in the case that inform this decision? What other information is important? Describe the current understanding of the pathophysiology of this condition.

Treatment: Detail the drugs you would use to treat the ocular condition, their strengths, and the dosage. Indicate the expected duration of treatment and when you will ask the patient to return for review. Give an account of the drug mechanism of action and potential ocular and/or systemic side-effects. Where different drug treatments may be available, indicate why the drug/s you choose would be more useful or effective than other options.

Communication plan: What are the key things that need to be discussed with the patient? How will you ensure the patient is involved in the treatment decision and understands the treatment plan? How can you improve compliance with the treatment?

Gen AI: How did you develop the prompts to use. How did you assess the quality of and use the information it provided. You must fact check all the information and read all documents it cites. Critically evaluate the biases in AI tools, and use it as a supplementary tool, do not use it to write the report. You may use Gen AI to assist in developing the presentation and communication plan.

Individual contribution and self-assessment (5%): Individually reflect on your contribution to the team and the report that was developed (200 words per team member). Include in your reflection your assessment of Gen AI including how it was used and its value and the potential issues (including bias and reliability).

Your assignment should cite current literature and Gen AI. Use of Gen AI is authorised. You may use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools to prepare for, generate and refine content for this assessment task.  AI-generated content may be inaccurate, unreliable, or biased. It is your responsibility to critically evaluate any information you use.

The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.

Assessment: Examination (Theory)

This will involve a written examination encompassing your understanding of pharmacologic principles applied to the eye, mechanisms of ocular drugs, their effects, side effects and application. The exam will include multiple choice questions (MCQ) and short answer questions (SAQ). 

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.

Threshold Assessment:

For professional accreditation, students must be able to use and prescribe medicines safely
and effectively, consistent with the Entry-Level Competency Standards for Optometry.  Satisfactory performance on the end-semester exam is a condition for passing this unit. Students will be eligible for one reattempt at the minimum pass level, only when their achieved mark is 40-49% for this assessment item. Students are advised to seek feedback on their performance from the unit coordinator prior to the reattempt. Gen AI cannot be used in this invigilated exam.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Resource Materials

Recommended text(s)

Fraunfelder, F. W; author (2021). Drug-induced ocular side effects. (8th ed).  London : Elsevier/Saunders

Jimmy D Bartlett, Siret D Jaanus (Eds.). (2008) Clinical ocular pharmacology (5th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann, Elsevier

Ohia, Sunny E.; Sharif, N. A. (Najam Arfeen) (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of basic and clinical ocular pharmacology and therapeutics. London : Academic Press.

Onofrey, Bruce E.; Skorin, Leonid, Jr.;  Holdeman, Nicky R. (Eds.). (2020). Ocular therapeutics handbook : a clinical manual. (4th ed.).  Philadelphia : Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Roy, Fraunfelder, Fraunfelder (2008). Roy and Fraunfelder's current ocular therapy (6th ed.). Elsevier Saunders New York

Velpandian, Thirumurthy. (Ed) (2016). Pharmacology of Ocular Therapeutics. (1st ed.)  Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Adis

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Standards/Competencies

This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.

Entry-Level Competency Standards for Optometry 2014

4: Diagnosis and Management

1. 
   Relates to: Group Assignment
2. 
   Relates to: Practical Activities, Group Assignment, Examination (Theory)

Entry-Level Competency Standards for Optometry 2022

1: Clinical Care Provider

1. 
   Relates to: Practical Activities
2. 
   Relates to: Group Assignment
3. 
   Relates to: Group Assignment
4. 
   Relates to: Examination (Theory)
5. 
   Relates to: Examination (Theory)

2: Professional and Ethical Practitioner

1. 
   Relates to: Examination (Theory)
2. 
   Relates to: Examination (Theory)

3: Communicator and Collaborator

1. 
   Relates to: Group Assignment
2. 
   Relates to: Practical Activities

4: Scholar and Lifelong Learner

1. 
   Relates to: Group Assignment

Course Learning Outcomes

OP45 Bachelor of Vision Science

1. Apply scientific knowledge and core skills of vision science and optometry.
   Relates to: Examination (Theory)
2. Reflect and apply critical thinking, problem solving and analysis to generate optometric and vision science solutions in clinical and scientific settings.
   Relates to: Group Assignment
3. Conduct effective ethical, culturally safe, and evidence-based clinical and technical ocular assessments that include data collection and experimental protocols.
   Relates to: Practical Activities
4. Employ effective communication technique/s using a range of oral, written and digital formats culturally and ethically responsive to the needs of diverse audiences and settings that meet professional standards.
   Relates to: Group Assignment