The 100% Optical student experience

I recently attended 100% Optical one of the largest optical events taking place in the UK. Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts on the event as published in the professional journal - OptometryToday here.

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Getting stuck into some engaging case study scenarios at the AOP hub.

As an AOP student representative for Aston University I saw 100% Optical as a fantastic opportunity to get exposure to a broad range of issues and topics facing Optometry in 2020. This inspired me to organise a group of fellow first year Optometry students to head down to the Excel Centre in London on the 26th January.

The first port of call was the AOP lounge to attend a student session introducing peer discussion – lead by Kevin Wallace, an AOP clinical advisor- something that was incredibly eye-opening. Despite being a first year, I could make clear links with content covered within university so far, providing a real context to what I was seeing in the lectures. I was able to have informative discussions on a variety of clinical scenarios and learn from fellow students, from characteristic symptoms to the best ways of managing patients.

I found it particularly beneficial to talk to other students at different stages in their career from third years working in primary care clinics to pre-registration Optometrists; providing me with a real flavour of what is to come.

Following from this, we went on a circuit of the exhibition, with OCT being recently rolled out across Specsavers, those of us who worked in practice found this a perfect opportunity to learn exactly how it works and is best used in practice. Further to this we saw how the development of these newer optical technologies have the power to completely revolutionise the way eye care is delivered. As a group we found this exceptionally valuable because it was clear to see that this would have a direct impact on how we would practice Optometry as we move throughout our careers. We were distinctly intrigued by the “Oculus Myopia Master” which incorporates autorefraction, keratometry and axial length measurement in myopia management.

Moving throughout the exhibition there was ample opportunity to network and speak to leaders within the optical industry. As a group we found it helped inform us on the variety of career paths within optometry, as well as paths of career development. Having this exposure such early on within our degree gives us something to aspire to and having that ambition is important.

Speaking to Rebecca Sharp, managing director, of Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care.

Being able to speak to those representing multiples was useful to find out more information on their pre-registration programmes. This knowledge will certainly play a part when we decide which environment we may want to do it in. I had a particularly engaging conversation with Rebecca Sharp, managing director or Leightons, on how different practice is within independent optometry. This is something that isn’t often at the forefront of student’s minds when looking at careers.

One especially contentious issue that has us all in optics talking is the proposal of the apprenticeship, so we made our way to the future practice hub to find a flowing debate. Peter Black, Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire shared greater insight upon what there is to gain from the apprenticeship and where it stands in modern education provision today. There was a strong rebuttal from the AOP representatives outlining the key reasons against the apprenticeship that were aligned with the College of Optometrists position statement. It provided us with more clarity on the situation and healthy debate on our train journey back.

Overall, we found our first trip to 100% Optical, well organized and with something catered for all of those in optics. I highly recommend to all optometry students to attend if they can, I certainly will be attending next year.