COPE makes CE easy

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Georgia Optometric Association’s annual fall meeting in Athens, GA. It is a pilgrimage I try to make each year to renew old acquaintances as well as get those required continuing education hours all ODs work for to keep our license current. 

This year, I made sure to bring my Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE) OE Tracker card along, but to be double sure I downloaded the OE tracker app to my iPhone. At the end of each lecture, the bar codes for the course were placed strategically around the lecture hall and with a quick scan from the app the course was uploaded to my OE Tracker transcript. I checked that each course was uploaded, and the process was practically instantaneous.            

Patients say the darndest things

This is an amazing convenience, and one many of my colleagues and I are certain to use over and over again in the never-ending pursuit of continuing education credit hours. I have also been on the other side of the COPE equation, as a CE provider. I have found its course accreditation process to be fast, easy, and extremely fair. Any question the staff had regarding the course, I quickly answered, demonstrating to me that the course certification process is not a rubber stamp but a thoughtful review of the course submission. Likewise, any question I had was similarly answered.     

As more state licensing boards turn to the COPE OE tracker to verify that their licensee’s CE requirements are being met, it is reassuring to know that our profession has a certifying body as fast, convenient and reliable as COPE and OE tracker. No more copying and sending the CE slips to the state board office. COPE is an organization that is very efficient and works extremely well. How cool is that?