COVID‐19: ensuring safe clinical teaching at university optometry schools

• Published in: Ophthalmic & physiological optics Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 144 - 156
• Main Authors: Jonuscheit, Sven, Lam, Andrew K C, Schmid, Katrina L, Flanagan, John, Martin, Raul, Troilo, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-01-2021
• Subjects: clinical teaching; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - transmission; Disease Transmission, Infectious - prevention & control; Education, Distance - methods; higher education; Humans; Optometry; Optometry - education; Pandemics; Personal Protective Equipment; Physical Distancing; SARS-CoV-2; Schools, Health Occupations - organization & administration; Self-Directed Learning as Topic; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Social interactions; Teaching - organization & administration; COVID-19; higher education; optometry; clinical teaching
• ISSN: 0275-5408; 1475-1313
• DOI: 10.1111/opo.12764

The COVID‐19 pandemic has been spreading across the globe for several months. The nature of the virus (SARS‐CoV‐2) with easy person‐to‐person transmissions and the severe clinical course observed in some people necessitated unprecedented modifications of everyday social interactions. These included the temporary suspension of considerable elements of clinical teaching at optometry schools worldwide. This article describes the challenges optometry schools were facing in early to mid 2020. The paper highlights the experiences of six universities in five countries on four continents. Strategies to minimise the risk of virus transmission, to ensure safe clinical optometric teaching and how to overcome the challenges presented by COVID‐19 are described. An outlook on opportunities to further improve optometric education is provided.