COE Continuing Optometric Education
Continuing Optometric Education (COE) is the umbrella term for continuing education courses and programmes in all areas of optometry, certified by the Association of German Contact Lenses-Specialists and Optometrists (VDCO), the Swiss Ophthalmic Optics and Optometric Association (SBAO) and the German Quality Association for Optometric Services (GOL). COE certified continuing education activities include events in presence, interactive events (e.g., professional journals) and online events.
Each issue of the journal contains a COE certified article with a quiz. This can be a scientific article, a clinical article or a case report. The Editorial Board of the journal selects the article to be published. The quiz is designed as a multiple choice test following the guidelines of the GOL. For successful completion of a COE certified course in OCL the participant will receive one COE Point. These COE credits are currently recognized as continuing education credits by both GOL, the SBAO, and VDCO.
Articles on obtaining COE Points
Articles are gradually appearing on OCL-online.de that provide a multiple-choice test at the end of the articles. These will be linked here:
- An analysis of the anterior segment of the eye with the Oculus Pentacam Corneo-Scleral Profile Report
- Prevalence of myopia in children and adults in Europe and North America
- Clinical comparison between a newly developed prototype method for measuring corneal sensitivity and the current gold standard
- The influence of accommodation on choroidal thickness: a pilot study
- Changes in the NPC in patients with convergence insufficiency after I.F.S. visual therapy
- The impact of diabetes mellitus and hyperglycaemia on the refractive status of the eye
- Review of the tear film measurements of a multifunctional instrument
- Current status of the topography of the sclera: a literature review
- Update on Fixation Disparity
- Biomechanics of the cornea in keratoconus and other corneal ectasias
- Short-term effect of Ortho-K on axial length and choroidal thickness
- Visual evoked potentials in neurological diseases
- Pilot Study to Assess Visual Acuity and Stereopsis in Anisometropic Amblyopic Adolescents and Adults after Contact Lens Correction
- The Role of the Ciliary Body in Aqueous Humor Formation
- Concomitant Keratoconus and Fuchs’ Endothelial Dystrophy- A Case Report
- A Case of Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy and its Association with COVID-19
- Contact lenses as promising therapeutic agents
- Visual Quality Indicators with Multifocal and Dual-Focus Soft Contact Lenses for Myopia Control
- Amblyopia prevalence in Europe
- New developments in the therapy of dry and neovascular age-related macular degeneration
- Direction of gaze-dependent visual acuity determination for correctly and incorrectly centred single vision aspheric lenses
- Surgical therapy of tear-induced retinal detachment – a clinical and historical view
- Analysis of Corneo-scleral Measurements and Ocular Biometry as Predictors of Scleral Lens Parameters: A Review
- Clinical application of high-throughput sequencing (next-generation sequencing, NGS) in the diagnosis of Usher syndrome
- Shutter glasses as a training tool in tennis – influence of (image) frequency and dark phase ratio on eye-hand-(racket-)coordination
- Lens Checking: How Eye Care Practitioners Verify and Inspect Rigid Contact Lenses
- Orthokeratology as a treatment option for nocturnal lagophthalmos
- Literature review on corneal sensitivity with contact lens wear
CONTINUING OPTOMETRIC EDUCATION – LIST OF COE POINTS
| Category | Unit | Max. # of COE-points per event | Max. # of COE-points in 2 years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Symposium, expert conference, congress or similar with mixed expert contents1,2 | 1 COE-point per 1,5 hrs; max. 4 COE-points per day |
10 | 20 |
| 2 | Seminar, case discussion, workshop or similar interactive events in small groups with one-topic focus (one or several days’ duration) 1,2 |
1 COE-point per 1,5 hrs | 4 | 20 |
| 3 | Courses of several days‘ duration for CET, as part of certificate-courses or as part of courses for higher qualification with structured syllabus and final exam1,2 |
1 COE Punkt je 3h | 10 | 20 |
| 4 | regional CET evening events (BVA, IVBS, SBAO, VDCO, WVAO or similar) 1,2 |
1 COE Punkt für ≥45 min + Diskussion | 1 | 20 |
| 5 | Educational events of opticalor ophthalmological industry, not product related 1,2 | 1 COE-point per 3 hrs | 4 | 10 |
| 6 |
Educational events of optical or ophthalmo-logical industry, |
1 COE-point per 3 hrs |
2 | 5 |
| 7 | Educational events (seminar, talks, workshops, conference, congress or similar) of other fields but optometry or ophthalmology, with contents closely related to the everyday work of optometrists (e.g. psychology, physiology, ergonomics, light engeneering, optics, specific marketing)2 |
1 COE-point per 3 hrs | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | On-site educational events, e.g. private seminar in own optician’s shop 1 |
1 COE-point per 3 hrs | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | E-learning with assessment (e.g. OCL-article with embedded MCQs) 1 |
1 COE-point per article | 10 | |
| 10 | Observing in ophthalmologist’s practice, eye clinic, optometrist’s practice or specialised optician,of proofed duration and contents |
1 COE-point per day | 4 | 10 |
| 11 | Pure product promotions, sales events, fairs, industry exhibition, etc. |
No COE-points given |
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| 12 | Expert-talk (speaker) 1,2 | 1 COE-point per 30min incl. questions from audience (only one-time per talk) |
4 | 10 |
| 13 | nstructor / course leader for workshop or seminar1,2 |
1 COE-point per 90min (only one-time per workshop/ seminar) |
4 | 10 |
| 14 | Own journal article or textbook contribution1 | Sole author: 1 COE- point per 2 print pages excl. advertisements and list of references; for ≥2 authors: 1 COE- point per 4 print pages excl. advertisements and list of references |
5 | 10 |
| 15 | Scientific Poster at congress or conference 1 | Sole author: 2 COE- points per Poster; ≥2 authors: 1 COE-point per co-author |
2 | 5 |
| 16 | Lecturing or teaching ophthalmic optics or optometry in theory or practice (evidence of contents must be provided) | 5 (fulltime) 3 (part time or temporary teaching agreement) |
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| 17 | Graduation from postgraduate courses (e.g. Master of Science in Augenoptik/Optometrie, ECOO-European Diploma, in addition to a regular German degree in optometry) 1 |
20 (one-time only) |
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| 18 | Subscription of a professional journal, published at least every two months (e.g. OCL, Die Kontaktlinse, Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde, Der Ophthalmologe, Optometry and Vision Science, OPO) 1 |
2 | ||
| 19 | Max. # of excessive COE-points allowed to carry forward to following year | 5 |
1 with ≥75% contents from ophthalmic optics, optometry or ophthalmology
2 in presence or online