General
No CPD Points
Managing patients with dementia is an area that often presents considerable uncertainty for optometric practitioners. Challenges may include communication difficulties, conducting subjective vision assessments, and addressing unfamiliar issues related to spectacle prescribing and dispensing.
This course covers the following:
- Dementia, the condition
- Visual deficits related to dementia
- Examining a patient with dementia
- Prescribing and referral
- Dispensing.
This docu-drama course combines interlinking fictional and factual sections, including:
- Reflective pieces that give an insight into how people experience dementia and its effects on their daily lives. These include recreations of the patient's eye view and experiences of different visual disturbances, such as visual hallucinations, to help with understanding the profound impact of dementia.
- Dramatised segments following the experiences of Alison, a woman in her 70s with dementia caused by Alzheimer's.
- Expert opinion and commentary provided by Thurka Sivapalan, an optometrist with specialist expertise in the area of dementia.
- Real life case studies: compelling interviews with real patients and their carers, who talk about their experience living with dementia, specifically around the issues of vision, sight loss and using optometric services.
First published: January 2012
Last reviewed: January 2025
Shah R, Hancock B, Bowen M, Edgar D (2017) Dementia and Optometry: A growing need. Optometry in Practice; 18(4), pp 177-186