OPN461 Optometry in Professional Practice

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

The practice of optometry is regulated by several State and Federal Acts of Parliament and all optometrists have professional and ethical responsibilities. The majority of optometry graduates aspire to enter private practice, either as an employee of another practitioner or an organisation of optometrists. They are frequently required to manage the practice and therefore, must have business, finance and administration capabilities, as they relate to optometry. This unit provides the skills required for the transition from student to professional practice, including knowledge of the legal, professional and ethical responsibilities of optometrists to patients and the wider community, as well as how to manage an optometry practice. You will develop knowledge and skills in the use of GenAI as a produtivity tool, and understand potential risks of inappropriate use of GenAI, and importance of safe and effective implementation of these technologies in eye care.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Apply knowledge of key legislation, guidelines, benefit schemes and organisations to the practice of optometry.
2. Critically evaluate and reflect on the legal, ethical and cultural safety implications of your actions and professionalism as an optometrist.
3. Collaborate with peers to identify and apply knowledge of the requirements for commencing, building and managing a practice to create a business plan.

Content

Learning Approaches

In this unit you will learn by engaging in lectures, online tutorials and online workshops using real world case examples.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will receive formative feedback through the online learning activities with industry experts, as well as automated feedback via the weekly online practice quizzes. You will receive written summative feedback  from your teaching team on the case study and business plan assessments, as well as peer feedback on your collaboration and contribution to the business plan.

Assessment

Overview

Summative assessment in this unit consists of three main assessments: an examination (non-invigilated) that will assess your applied knowledge of concepts covered in the first half of the semester, a case study that will evaluate your critique of and reflections on professional, ethical and cultural dilemmas in a given optometric case, and working in teams, you will develop a business plan for a new optometry practice.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Business Plan

You will work in a small team of students to work in a professional manner and draw on various resources to create a written Business Plan for a new optometry business. This plan will incorporate elements such as an Executive Summary, Financial Projections, Marketing plan, and Operations.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

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.

You will further develop skills in Gen AI prompt development to assist in developing and writing sections of a business plan.  You must fact check all the information and read all documents Gen AI cites. Critically evaluate the biases in AI tools, and use it as a supplementary tool, do not use it to write the report.

Your assignment should cite current literature and Gen AI following the guidance in Cite | Write.

Assessment: Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study

You will critically evaluate and reflect upon a case that presents a professional, ethical, and/or cultural safety dilemma.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

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: Oral Examination

This assessment will focus upon your knowledge of different aspects of the optometry profession including legal and ethical aspects of practice, professional guidelines, benefit schemes and key organisations.

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

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

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

1: Professional Responsibilities

1. 
   Relates to: Business Plan, Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study, Oral Examination
2. 
   Relates to: Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study, Oral Examination
3. 
   Relates to: Business Plan, Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study, Oral Examination
4. 
   Relates to: Business Plan, Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study, Oral Examination

Course Learning Outcomes

OP85 Master of Optometry

1. Synthesise complex optometric knowledge, cognitive, clinical and technical skills and research methodology in vision science.
   Relates to: Oral Examination
2. Practice as an inclusive, collaborative and reflective healthcare professional with capacity to adapt and develop resilience, and commitment to sustainable health care delivery within ethical, legal and professional frameworks.
   Relates to: Business Plan, Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Safety Case Study, Oral Examination