Triple treat: Highlights from the RANZCO, AONA and OA 2024 Conferences

In early November, Adelaide simultaneously hosted three of the biggest conferences on the ophthalmic calendar: the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) Annual Scientific Congress, the Australian Ophthalmic Nurses’ Association (AONA) Conference, and the Orthoptics Australia(OA) Annual Conference.

Vision Hospital Group was thrilled to have a major presence this year (in conjunction with parent company Vision Eye Institute), through our ophthalmologists, nurses, support staff, executive team and an impressive trade booth in the RANZCO exhibitors’ hall.

Congratulations to all who participated – here are some of the highlights!

A special opening address for OA’s 80th Annual Conference

Amanda Cranage, CEO of Vision Hospital Group and Vision Eye Institute, was honoured to deliver the opening address at the 80th Orthoptics Australia Annual Conference.

With over 30 years of experience in both public and private healthcare sectors, Ms Cranage shared her remarkable journey from practising orthoptist to executive leadership of Australia’s largest provider of private ophthalmology services.

Her presentation, ‘A Journey from Clinic to CEO – Navigating Healthcare Innovation and Excellence,’ inspired attendees with insights into her career progression and mindset, while also challenging preconceptions about what it means to be innovative.

Sustainability and a post-surgery pilot program on the agenda at AONA

Kylie Bennett, National Director of Nursing and National Quality and Safety Manager, presented on ‘Sustainability in Healthcare.’ Ms Bennett discussed the impact of health care on the environment before introducing the new environmental sustainability module that will soon form part of the accreditation program for health service organisations in Australia.

Her presentation also included examples of sustainability initiatives taken by some hospitals and Vision Hospital Group’s efforts to date.

Gabriela Kalofonos, Director of Nursing at Forest Road Day Surgery and AONA Industry Liaison, presented the results of a pilot research project she led, where post-operative patients received a check-in text message with the option to request a call from a nurse (compared to the standard protocol of having all post-op patients called by a nurse).

Participants were also surveyed to determine their level of satisfaction with the program. Her presentation was titled ‘Pilot post-surgery automated text follow up program: characteristics, acceptability, and role in Ophthalmic patient care.’

Celebrating with the Sight For All team

As an Enterprise Supporter of Sight For All, we were delighted to help this wonderful organisation celebrate their achievements and growing community of visionaries and donors at the RANZCO Congress. Amanda Cranage, Dr Jason Cheng (who also sits on the Board for Sight For All) and our Group Marketing Manager, Siobhan Todhunter, joined Sight For All CEO Judy Hatswell for some pre-event, ‘red carpet’ action!

From presenters to posters in the RANZCO program

Our participation in the 55th RANZCO Congress program involved invited speakers, session chairs and poster presentations, and included the following Vision Hospital Group ophthalmologists:

Dr Jeff Friedrich, Dr Alex Ioannidis, Dr Rahul Chakrabarti, Dr Uday Bhatt, Dr Lewis Levitz, Dr Christolyn Raj, Dr Daniel McKay, Dr Paul Athanasiov, Dr Brian Ang, Dr John McKenzie, Prof Gerard Sutton, Prof Colin Chan, A/Prof Tim Roberts, Dr Rushmia Karim, Dr Jason Cheng, Dr Marc Sarossy, Dr Eric Mayer, A/Prof Michael Lawless, Prof Rasik Vajpayee, A/Prof Abi Tenen, Dr Joe Reich, Dr Ed Boets, Dr Lee Lenton, Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin, Dr Alp Atik, Prof Weng Onn Chan, Dr Tess Huynh, Dr Gary Schiller and Dr Phung Vu.

Members of the executive, nursing and clinical support teams also participated.

And finally, our exhibitor booth was the place to be!

It was all happening at BOOTH 63 in the RANZCO exhibitor hall, where we proudly showcased our national network of ophthalmic day surgeries and specialist ophthalmic theatre teams. The rotating roster of Vision Hospital Group executive team members, directors of nursing and clinical relationships managers did a tremendous job of welcoming visitors to the booth – we had a lovely mix of new and familiar faces.