Using the world health organisation eye care competency framework to guide curriculum development - a case study

The provision of eye care services faces global challenges due to ageing populations and a shortage of trained eye care personnel. The World Health Organisation Eye Care Competency Framework provides a set of competencies that may be used for workforce planning and the development of an eye care workforce. Using a backward design, we mapped the Eye Care Competency Framework against established curricula. It was found that this was a useful framework for novice program designers to refer to when planning programs and may be beneficial in standardising programs to ensure a minimum standard is met.