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PCON Symposium: what today’s continuing education is all about
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I remember it as if it were yesterday. My first optometric continuing education symposium. It was March 1983. The International Contact Lens Conference in Atlantic City, N.J. As a relatively recent graduate I was in awe of all the symposium had to offer. So many courses, so much information and so many clinical pearls. I just didn’t think it could get any better. Until now.
Having just attended the Third Annual Primary Care Optometry News Symposium I am amazed — and humbled — by how far our profession has come. Consistent with our expanded privileges, today’s continuing education courses are of a much more diverse nature. We often theorize on the pathophysiology of disease and its impact on structure and function. We discuss the subtleties of differential diagnosis. We learn of the most contemporary therapeutic agents. Indeed, today’s continuing education has grown in so many ways.
Certainly, the PCON Symposium is no exception. As a venue featuring multiple presenters and plenty of attendee participation, we entertained such issues as:
- Is the association between thin corneas and glaucoma merely a measurement error or indicative of a more generalized ocular connective tissue abnormality?
- Does the life expectancy of a rogue t-lymphocyte influence our dosing duration for cyclosporine in treating ocular surface disease?
- Is monocular occlusion a reasonably accurate way in which to determine whether an infant’s head tilt is visual or orthopedic in nature?
- How can we explain the paradox of reduced retinopathy in diabetics who smoke?
- Is there evidence, and likelihood, that thin nevi convert to choroidal melanomas?
- Does aggressive first-line therapy with fourth-generation fluoroquinolone antibiotics actually mitigate against bacterial resistance?
- Is overnight Corneal Refractive Therapy (and orthokeratology) safe and effective in kids?
- Considering safety, efficacy and patient satisfaction, is a 9-D myope considering refractive surgery better served by LASIK or a phakic IOL?
While we may not have all of the answers just yet, we certainly have a much better understanding of these clinical dilemmas. And that is precisely what today’s continuing education is all about: challenging conventional wisdom, sharing knowledge and better understanding our patients’ needs. In short, pushing ourselves to limits I could not have ever imagined ... especially in March 1983.