Sept. 10, 2020 — VSP Global has announced that its Premier Academy360 program is offering VSP network doctors a no-cost, live webinar series exploring diversity, inclusion, and cultural competence in optometry.

The webinar series, titled “Eyes on the Future,” aims to support all VSP network practices in understanding diversity, inclusion, and cultural competence in optometry.

Developed in partnership with the National Optometric Association, this three-part series provides educational tools that reinforce the value that optometrist play in providing health care for diverse communities.

Speaker Ruth Y. Shoge, O.D., MPH, FAAO, will explore topics including: the dimensions of diversity in optometry, cultural competence techniques to implement in a practice, and how to navigate cultural and linguistic differences with patients.

For the full schedule:

Part 1: Eyes on the Future: Diversity & Inclusion in Optometry 
Date/time: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020 at 12 p.m. PDT
Description: Doctors of optometry are in a unique position to meet comprehensive eye care needs of diverse populations in the U.S. This first webinar of the series will review the dimensions of diversity and relevance to optometry and review general healthcare and eyecare disparities. 
Register here.
 
Part 2: Eyes on the Future: Key Aspects of Cultural Competence
Date/time: Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 at 12 p.m. PDT
Description: “Cultural competence” has been used as a catch-all phrase to generally describe relating to or understanding another person’s culture; however, the term should be understood as a spectrum of ability. This second webinar of the series will review the four stages of cultural competence and techniques that you can implement to facilitate patient-centered care in your practice. 
Register here.
 
Part 3: Eyes on the Future: Cross-Cultural Clinical Skills
Date/time: Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 at 12 p.m. PDT
Description: Cultural and linguistic differences can sometimes be perceived as barriers to providing excellent clinical care for your patients. This final webinar of the series will explore tools that can be used to elicit health beliefs, models for communication, how to effectively communicate with your patients in the exam room, and the legislation that supports language access services.     
Register here.
 

Dr. Shoge received her Master of Public Health from Temple University with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Science, where she developed a special interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which includes cultural competency training, recruitment and retention strategies, and curriculum reform. She currently is lead instructor of the Health Care, Professionalism, and Diversity course and is an instructor in the Binocular Vision I and Acquired Brain Injury courses at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), where she received her optometry degree and completed her pediatric residency. Dr. Shoge also serves as director of the Summer Enrichment Program at PCO, a program aimed at improving the recruitment, matriculation, and graduation of underrepresented minority students. 
 
As an optometric professional committed to diversity and inclusion, she serves on various committees and boards aimed to promote the racial and ethnic diversity at optometric institutions, including the DEI committee at Salus University, the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry’s Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee, and an advisory board at PCO that will review the curriculum and implement strategies to ensure continuity in culturally competent education from matriculation to graduation. In her work, she aims to provide and model clinical competence and cultural humility to her students as they care for their patients.