Sound Optometry
Sound Optometry is the podcast from Docet that provides high quality continuing education and training for all UK-GOC-registered optometrists. Each month, we’ll be exploring the topics that matter most to us optometrists with case studies and in-depth conversations. You can gain 1 CPD point by listening to this podcast and completing the exercise on Docet's website: http://docet.info (http://docet.info/)
Episodes
May 22, 2024 • 28 mins
Complaints are a normal part of a patient-facing industry, like optometry — from problems with prescriptions to quibbles about customer service. Therefore, handling complaints in a professional manner is an essential part of the GOC’s Standards of Practice. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty hears from Dawn Slocombe, a Complaints Resolution Manager at the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS), about how complaints are pro...
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April 24, 2024 • 25 mins
In optometry, exciting new products or treatments are constantly coming onto the market. As practitioners, we need to keep our knowledge up-to-date, so that we can offer solutions to our patients if they present with an ocular condition. But is the evidence strong enough to make a recommendation or to provide that treatment?
In this episode, Michelle Hanratty taps into the expertise of IP optometrists Paramdeep Bilkh...
In this episode, Michelle Hanratty taps into the expertise of IP optometrists Paramdeep Bilkh...
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March 20, 2024 • 26 mins
Ocular allergy can be more complicated than the seasonal conjunctivitis that optometrists see frequently in practice. To treat allergic reactions effectively, it’s important to understand how the immune system works. In this episode, Michelle and Dr Peter Frampton, an optometrist at Aaron Optometrists in the North of England, discuss the four types of immune reactions, or “allergies”, that can be expected in practice. Michelle...
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February 14, 2024 • 28 mins
Children with special educational needs (SEN) are 28 times more likely to have a problem with their vision—or how their brains interpret vision—than their peers. It’s essential that optometrists understand how to make appointments as successful as possible for SEN children and their families. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty asks Ellie Hughes, Assistant Headteacher and Sensory Impairment Lead at Chellow Heights Special Schoo...
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January 17, 2024 • 27 mins
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of sight loss in the UK, and the dry form is the most common type of the condition. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty visits a community practice in Harborne, Birmingham, to meet optometrist Bradley Warwick. Brad specialises in dry AMD, so Michelle and Brad discuss how to manage and counsel patients with the condition that currently has no treatment options. Late...
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November 22, 2023 • 28 mins
Laser treatments are a great way for optometrists to learn new skills and add some variety to day-to-day practice. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty brings us into her YAG laser capsulotomy clinic in Birmingham, where she treats posterior capsule opacification (PCO) following cataract surgery. Michelle walks us through an appointment with a patient, demonstrating how quick and effective the treatment can be, as well as explai...
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October 18, 2023 • 28 mins
Over 400,000 cataract procedures are done every year in England alone and the surgery is also one of the most successful in modern medicine. But complications can still occur, for a number of reasons. With optometrists becoming ever more involved with cataract surgery patient pathways — from direct referral to postoperative care — in this episode, Michelle Hanratty explores the risk and complications that optometrists should b...
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September 21, 2023 • 28 mins
Myopia can be much more than just shortsightedness. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty speaks to her friend Kathryn, who has severe myopia, to find out how the condition can cause further ocular health problems, like macular degeneration.
Two years ago on the podcast, we explored how optometrists should play an active role in myopia management using contact lenses. Listen to that episode here.
Since then, mo...
Two years ago on the podcast, we explored how optometrists should play an active role in myopia management using contact lenses. Listen to that episode here.
Since then, mo...
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July 26, 2023 • 26 mins
Regular eye screening for the more than 4 million people in the UK with diabetes is essential. The chronic condition is difficult to manage, but high blood sugar over time can damage the blood vessels in the retina. These changes to the eye can be detected by retinal photography, yet diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness, because it typically isn’t caught — and managed — early enough.
This episode expl...
This episode expl...
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June 28, 2023 • 27 mins
Detecting and diagnosing suspect glaucoma isn’t an exact science, but the stakes are high—undetected or late-diagnosed optic nerve damage can lead to irreversible vision loss. Subtle changes in the optic nerve head can be confusing, though, so as an optometrist, being confident in your clinical decisions is essential. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty seeks advice on optic disc assessments with Patrick Gunn, an optometrist at...
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May 17, 2023 • 27 mins
One of the side-effects for patients who take hydroxychloroquine, or chloroquine, can be retinal toxicity. The drug is usually taken to help treat rheumatic disorders, but around 7.5% of people who take hydroxychloroquine for over five years are thought to develop retinopathy. That’s why regular monitoring of the eyes is essential. Typically, monitoring takes place in secondary care, however primary care optometry can now play...
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April 19, 2023 • 29 mins
Leadership in optometry can take many forms - from solving a patient’s complaint successfully, to managing a team of optometrists, to dealing with our busy workflows. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty asks Mat Pickering, the General Manager of Optegra UK, how optometrists can become leaders in the workplace. Michelle is the Optometrist Lead at Optegra in Birmingham, and the pair discuss the multiple aspects of lead roles and ...
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March 21, 2023 • 29 mins
The impact of severe dry eye or ocular surface disease on quality of life has been compared to someone who’s had a renal transplant or unstable angina. In this episode, we hear how dry eye disease affected both the ocular and mental health of patient Dave Cannell. For optometrists, dry eye can be tricky to manage and patients may need to be referred to hospital eye services. Michelle Hanratty explores the role that optometri...
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February 21, 2023 • 27 mins
Mental health isn’t usually the first consideration in optometrists’ minds when they see patients. But with conditions like anxiety and depression on the rise, optometrists, as primary healthcare providers, should be on the lookout for mental health concerns and how to point patients in the right direction. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty asks optometrist Sarah Farrant and her patient Christine Lanaghan how to talk about me...
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January 18, 2023 • 26 mins
Visual field tests can be invaluable when trying to explain a patient’s symptoms, like headaches, or detecting early disease, from glaucoma to stroke, or rarer neurological conditions, such as pituitary tumours. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty asks Stephen Freeman, an optometrist and lecturer at the University of Plymouth, when to be suspicious and what steps to take to investigate non-glaucomatous visual field defects in p...
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November 15, 2022 • 27 mins
Mental health conditions can affect anyone and can have a negative impact on optometrists’ work. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty discusses these implications with Sheena Tanna-Shah, an optometrist who retrained in therapy after her own experience with anxiety. Also, avoiding stress and burnout at work can help to reduce the risk of mental health conditions – and makes working as an optometrist much more enjoyable. Dr Rachel...
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October 18, 2022 • 27 mins
Coming across eyelid lesions is an everyday occurrence for optometrists, but distinguishing them from each other can be a challenge. In this episode, we hear from Nina, who had a basal cell carcinoma (BCC) on her lower eyelid. Michelle Hanratty then explores the various types of malignant and benign lesions that could present in practice, with Mr Raman Malhotra, a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Queen Victoria Hospital in...
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September 13, 2022 • 27 mins
Paediatric eye conditions can often leave optometrists concerned and confused about how to manage patients. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty explores both inflammatory and infectious causes of corneal disease in children. Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Mr Michael O’Gallagher of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast explains how vernal keratoconjunctivitis differs from blepharokeratoconjunctivitis, and how to best detect and t...
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July 20, 2022 • 28 mins
Uveitis is thought to cause around 15% of severe sight loss in the UK. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty explores both punctate inner choroidopathy or PIC, a form of posterior uveitis, and the more common presentation of anterior uveitis, with Consultant Ophthalmologist Professor Alastair Denniston and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Dr Balini Balasubramaniam, from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. We also h...
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June 21, 2022 • 28 mins
Many optometrists will have experienced a patient calling and saying that they suddenly can't see. In this episode, Michelle Hanratty travels to the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital to explore the loss of vision, focussing on artery and vein occlusions, with optometrists Helen Wilson and Amanda Harding. The discussion addresses how optometrists can ensure that people can access care in the most efficient way. Michelle also asks a...
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