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Quality Assurance Programming

Opticians are entrusted by the public to provide safe, effective, ethical health care at all times throughout their careers. They meet certain requirements and competencies when they first enter the field and become registered, but as time goes on, technology and methods of practice continue to change. How can the public ensure that a registered optician has kept up their skills and knowledge to continue practicing safe and quality care, as things continue to change?

COBC maintains a quality assurance program to ensure that registered opticians continue to learn and improve in their practice.

The Continuing Competency Program (CCP) is a requirement of opticians, and involves a competency assessment that must be taken every 3 years. This assessment is to help them identify areas of practice that might require some development as they advance in their careers. Opticians will then create learning goals in those specific areas and plan some education to help achieve them. This education could come from various sources, including attending opticianry conferences, enrollment in courses or seminars, or participating in study clubs. Once the opticians have accomplished their learning goals, they can identify for the College what they learned and how they might be able to put it into practice.

The program is completed by each optician within a 3-year cycle, before starting again. As opticians are continuously focused on their professional progress, the public can feel confident that competence is being sustained and improved throughout an optician's career.

For more information on Quality Assurance at the COBC, please click here.