With her years of experience on the Optometrist Advisor Help Desk, Sophie will share what she’s learned and how she’s supported optometrists through patient complaints, ethical dilemmas, Medicare audit investigations, and medicolegal and professional risks. The session will discuss how to:

• Prevent patient complaints and/or conflict, and understand your rights in tricky patient situations

• Stay compliant and confident in your clinical practice. 

• Reduce stress and professional risk.

• Safeguard your reputation and stay out of court.

This session will equip you with everyday things you can implement today, to help reduce your professional risk throughout your career.

Learning Objectives

• Identify common causes of patient complaints and conflict in optometric practice and implement practical strategies to prevent escalation.

• Recognise behaviours and documentation errors that increase exposure to medicolegal, Ahpra and Medicare investigations.

• Apply risk-reduction strategies to real-world common scenarios involving ethical dilemmas and difficult patients.

• Explain your rights and obligations when managing challenging patient interactions and regulatory enquiries.

• Adopt preventative strategies, to reduce professional risk and improve compliance, improve confidence and reduce workplace stress.

Our Speaker

Sophie is the Director of Professional Services at Optometry Australia, where she leads the Optometry Advisor Help Desk supporting optometrist members nationwide. She has a strong interest in governance and ethical leadership within the not-for-profit sector, as well as elevating a positive workplace culture.

Sophie was a recipient of Victoria’s prestigious Women in Leadership Scholarship while serving as first female Chair/President of the Australian College of Optometry (ACO) Board. She began her optometry career in Darwin as a new graduate and has since developed broad experience across public health, independent and corporate settings throughout metropolitan, rural and remote Australia. Her work has also included extensive collaboration with ophthalmology teams and the training of eye care practitioners across the Pacific region in East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. She is passionate about improving the eye health outcomes of underserved communities both locally and internationally.