M.Comm. / Literature relating to Optometric Practice Management in South Africa is not available. The only text available for use by Optometry students is the book published by Gowans in 1989. This text is now outdated as many changes were instituted after the first democratic elections in 1994. Not only has Optometric Practice Management been neglected, but literature relating to Optometric education in South Africa is also not easily accessible. Very few publications dedicated to Optometric education itself have been retrieved. The earliest study was commissioned by the South African Optometric Association when Hofstetter (1980) was requested to investigate Optometric education in South Africa. The need for teaching Optometric Practice Management as part of formal undergraduate studies was investigated. Mokoena (2007) referred to the importance thereof in a letter to the editor of the Vision magazine. He referred to the requirement of Practice Management as ‘to teach and integrate a sound, practice business education into the undergraduate level of optometry at optometry schools’. Some other authors such as Schubach (2002) have indicated the need to teach basic business skills and Kriel (2003) also highlighted the requirement to teach Practice Management as a specialized skill at a postgraduate level. The utilization or performance of various Practice Management aspects was evaluated and the importance of these activities in practice was assessed. The rating of the importance of the activities has led to the suggestion of a curriculum for Optometric Practice Management for the undergraduate programme as well as a possible postgraduate course.

M.Comm. / The importance of service is constantly increasing in most economies (Gronroos 1988), and service is becoming exceedingly vital to success for manufacturers of goods as well. Service is very frequently referred to as the definitive competitive tool (Kyj 1987; Coppett 1988) and some writers (Quinn and Gagnon 1986) have warned that services if not managed suitably could follow manufacturing into decline, as inattention to quality, emphasis on scale economies, and short-term orientation predominates. Indeed Levitt (1981) has questioned the services-goods dichotomy, and states that all products, whether they are services or goods, possess a certain amount of intangibility perhaps the fundamental difference between the two referred to by most other writers. It is this intangibility which is seen as being the fundamental distinguishing characteristic of services.

Yes / To compare spectacles bought online with spectacles from optometry practices. Methods: Thirty-three participants consisting of single vision spectacle wearers with either a low (N = 12, mean age 34 ± 14 years) or high prescription (N = 11, mean age 28 ± 9 years) and 10 presbyopic participants (mean age 59 ± 4 years) wearing progressive addition lenses (PALs) purchased 154 pairs of spectacles online and 154 from UK optometry practices. The spectacles were compared via participant-reported preference, acceptability, and safety; the assessment of lens, frame, and fit quality; and the accuracy of the lens prescriptions to international standard ISO 21987:2009. Results: Participants preferred the practice spectacles (median ranking 4th, IQR 1–6) more than online (6th, IQR 4–8; Mann-Whitney U = 7345, p < 0.001) and practice PALs (median ranking 2nd, IQR 1–4) were particularly preferred (online 6.5th, IQR 4–9, Mann-Whitney U = 455, p < 0.001). Of those deemed unacceptable and unsafe, significantly more were bought online (unacceptable: online 43/154 vs. practice 15/154, Fisher’s exact p = 0.0001; unsafe: online 14/154 vs. practice 5/154, Fisher’s exact p = 0.03). Conclusions: Participants preferred spectacles from optometry practice rather than those bought online, despite lens quality and prescription accuracy being similar. A greater number of online spectacles were deemed unsafe or unacceptable because of poor spectacle frame fit, poor cosmetic appearance, and inaccurate optical centration. This seems particularly pertinent to PAL lenses, which are known to increase falls risk. Recommendations are made to improve both forms of spectacle provision. / College of Optometrists