Nov 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE: ADONZ Conference
ADONZ delivers cpd, networking and fun
If you were in need of a dispensing optician
over the weekend of October 9 to October 11,
statistically speaking, you’d have to be in Hamilton.
That’s because a good number of the country’s
registered DOs attended the ADONZ 2015 National
Conference at the Novotel Hamilton Tainui, where
they were able to earn up to 14 CPD points, meet
more than a dozen Kiwi-centric wholesalers,
suppliers and lens makers and celebrate the 20th
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year of OptiBlocks at a fun-filled costume dinner
party with a roaring ‘20s theme.
“It’s been wonderful. It’s a really nice
atmosphere,” ADONZ President Peggy Savage told
NZ Optics near the end of the weekend. “We’ve
had a bit fun. The standard of education has been
high; the conference in its entirety has been very
well done.”
Savage helped keep the pace through the
three-day event, presiding over
the AGM and paying respect to
key people in the association,
organisers and the top-notch
cadre of presenters, including
ABDO’s Elaine Grisdale, Dr
David Wilson, Steve Daras,
Serah van Haeftan, Dr Richard
Johnson, Mariska Mannes,
Stephen Guest, Andrew
Swensen and amusing MC
Stephen Caunter from ANZ.
The Sunday night gala
evening was a fitting
punctuation for the close-knit
DO community, celebrating
20 years of OptiBlocks, the
ADONZ-owned provider of
practical training blocks for New
Zealand’s dispensing opticians.
Celebrating the 20 year birthday,
the gala dinner at The Verandah,
Hamilton Lake, was awash
with 20s spirt with flappers,
gangsters, sophisticated
socialites, golfers, G-men, and
even an Amelia Earheart.
Wholesalers and frame
vendors were also well
represented in the tight
exhibitor space at the
conference venue with
all New Zealand’s leading
lens manufacturers, frame
distributors and leading
accessory companies
represented (see ADONZ:
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Education changes afoot
for Kiwi DOs
A significant development to emerge from the
conference was ADONZ’s decision to actively
explore a domestic education partner for a New
Zealand qualified, diploma-level dispensing
optician programme.
Representing ADONZ, Savage says the
organisation is in the “very early stages” of
working with WinTec (the Waikato Institute of
Technology) to apply for qualification for a DO
programme with the New Zealand Qualifications
Authority (NZQA). Should the programme happen,
and many hope it will, it will replace the general
DO blocks now delivered by Australia-based Open
Training and Education Network (OTEN) and
ensure Kiwi DOs are better qualified than their
Trans-Tasman counterparts, as OTEN consolidates
Australia state standards into a national DO
standard.
The move from OTEN to a domestic qualified
distance learning course stems from the
imminent changes to the standards in Australia,
admits Savage.
“We’ve had a good relationship with them for
a very long time and we will still have a good
relationship with OTEN…but we’ve never had
NZQA qualified recognition, and that’s really what
we’d like to do now. We’ve been in the industry
long enough for us to say, ‘hang on let’s look at
how we can do this better’.”
An NZQA qualification would also provide
a safeguard of independence from private
corporations exercising undue influence on some
teaching facilities, added Savage.
Interest in DO education appears to have
increased over the past four years, with the
number of ADONZ students increasing from 8 in
2011 to 58 this year, which ADONZ leaders see as
another sign of the need for good DO education
in New Zealand.
In a presentation, WinTec representative Sara
Towers explained the process of setting up a new
DO education programme in New Zealand.
“We’re probably looking at a diploma level
qualification, so either a level 5 or level 6 diploma
depending on the level of learning outcomes that
come through in the actual qualification design.”
Towers said they will be looking for input from
ADONZ members and asked for their response
to a simple online survey to demonstrate their
support for the qualification’s development in
New Zealand.
The programme would also have to gain
approval from the Optometrists and Dispensing
Opticians Board to ensure the training continues
to protect public safety.
WinTec intends to finish consultation with
ADONZ members and other education entities
by the end of the year to expedite approval
from NZQA. The goal, Towers said, is to have a
programme in place for the first semester of
2016.
“What this all means is we will end up with a
good academic qualification. We want to make
sure it is the best we can, so we provide the best
service.”
Like OTEN, the New Zealand programme will be
delivered as a distance learning course to service
students throughout the country, and it will
continued to be administered by OptiBlocks.
From the technical
to the ethical
Lecturers from New Zealand, Australia and the
UK covered a range of topics, providing attendees
with 13 CPD points (with an extra CPD point for
attending a workshop) in sessions that sparked
both interest and debate.
Serah van Haeften, legal counsel for Specsavers
Australia, led a presentation on the murky waters
of conflict of interest.
“Under the law you are required to avoid
conflict of interest situations. What that actually
means is putting your patients first,” van Haefetn
said. “You have to have proper skills to make the
right kind of referral and on occasions when there
are things beyond your expertise you have to
make the right kind of referrals. Public health and
safety has to be paramount.”
The simple summary, however, does not tell the
entire story, and van Haeften later admitted that
in any situation, the decision on what is or isn’t
ethical is highly subjective.
“It goes beyond the profit margin,” she said.
“What should you do if you have a conflict?
Transparency, openness and honesty are the keys
to managing conflict. In everyday life we have
this. The idea is not to stop living life or avoiding
things, but to ensure that everyone you work with
is aware of it.”
The presentation led to a lively discussion
exposing the occasional difficulty in determining
what defines a conflict of interest and contrasting
it with customary business practice.
Lens supplier sales incentives, staff discounts
to family, patient-referral incentives and other
scenarios discussed all require finesse to maintain
professional integrity, said van Haeften.
“The questions you should ask yourself are do
my actions feel right? Do they reflect what people
generally think is right and wrong? It’s better
to err on the side of caution so you can sleep at
night and to make sure the values you represent
are in line with the values your serve.”
Joanna Murray, John Ruby and Steph Cawte were
among the first people to go through OptiBlocks when it
launched in 1995
Angela Mitchell as Amelia Earheart
Jennifer Mae Castillo took the First in Class student prize,
sponsored by Essilor
Pene Leadbeater and Jacquie Ellis getting into the spirit
of the ‘20s
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10 NEW ZEALAND OPTICS November 2015
13/10/2015 10:29:58 AM