Career in Optometry
Entering a pre-registration year after obtaining your BSc degree
Students wishing to enter the pre-registration year must have achieved all of the stage one core competencies of the General Optical Council and have at least a 2:2 honours classification or have an ordinary degree with an average of at least 60% in the final year. The core competencies are assessed within the third year (details are available via the GOC website www.optical.org or blackboard unit BIOL30200). For students who do not meet either of these requirements the GOC have approved a one year additional course which is run by a small number of UK Optometry Schools (details of universities offering the scheme are available from the GOC). A fee is charged for this course and the course is not eligible for funding from Student Finance. Potential candidates should seek advice from participating universities about their suitability for this scheme.
Finding a pre-registration training placement
Those looking for a pre-registration placement can email the AOP (www.assoc-optometrists.org/contact_us.html), who will put their names on a list for supervisors looking for students.
The Association of Optometrists’ Pre-registration period action pack for optometry undergraduates and pre-registration trainees is intended to assist undergraduate optometry students looking for a pre-registration training placement and optometry graduates undertaking their pre-registration period. The Action Pack can be accessed via the AOP website at www.assoc-optometrists.org/student/student_prereg.html.
Your pre-registration training is an extension to your degree course, where you can gain clinical experience in all aspects of eyecare, and prepare for your Final Assessment. The pre-registration year enables you to “learn the ropes” and should be the foundation to your career as an optometrist. You need to satisfy yourself that during the year you will receive adequate training and preparation to allow you to tackle the Final Assessment with the fullest confidence.
A Hospital Pre-registration Year
A pre-registration year in a hospital allows you to gain experience in a wide variety of optometric disciplines which. Optometry departments vary in size but in all you would expect to examine patients ranging from young infants to the elderly. In addition to routine optometric disciplines such as refraction and dispensing, you are likely to be involved on a daily basis in contact lens and low vision aid clinics, visual field examination, ultrasound biometry and the examination of patients with orthoptics anomalies. Some departments will offer more specialised investigative techniques. You will routinely encounter all types of ocular and systemic pathologies.
All departments are well equipped and you will have access to a full range of optometric drugs. You will be working not only with optometrists but also ophthalmologists, orthoptists, nurses and other health care professionals, ensuring a sound grounding for your professional future.
Your pre-registration year will equip you to deal with a full range of optometric/orthoptics problem cases and will serve as an excellent professional grounding for a career within the Hospital Eye Service or in General Practice. Above all, it will suit graduates seeking a varied and challenging year of training. For further information, visit the JCL Optics website at http://www.jclconsulting.co.uk/