The bigger picture..

This past week I was given the opportunity to contribute to an article with Harriet Evans, a community reporter, that was published in the Express and Star evening newspaper. This piece explores how the recent circumstances are affecting students studying a variety of healthcare courses such as nursing, medicine and dentistry. The article can be found here.

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I study the BSc Optometry programme at Aston University, Birmingham. The course is three years and I have just completed my 1st year. Subsequent to this you complete one year of supervised and assessed training in practice called the “pre-registration year” before you qualify as an Optometrist. This pre-reg year has seen an incredibly delayed enrollment for final year graduates of 2020. For those who are currently completing, some have been made unemployed and most have not completed this in the desired time schedule.

For all university students we have seen a swift move to online learning and assessment, but particularly for my course this has taken the form of recorded lectures and group zoom calls. We have seen that entire practical/clinical sessions and assessment cancelled. Due to the fact the course is regulated by the General Optical Council, as are many other healthcare courses, lecturers have found new ways to assess our competency so we can progress.

This has been a positive thing because it has stimulated innovation within higher education teaching.

Other allied healthcare courses such as BNurs (Bachelor of Nursing) courses have been shifting theory based work to the first term of the 2020-2021 year and placements later on in the year. Some student nurses have been recruited by the NHS to help support departments. MBBS Medicine and BDS Dentistry courses are patient focused like the BSc Optometry programme and have been and will be disrupted vastly next year and beyond.

I and my peers feel like months of isolation have passed in a blur and that we have lost track of the days, something I think we can all relate to. Not having the routine of going into the university campus can feel quite disconcerting. Professor Leon Davies Head of Optometry at Aston University has informed students of a new blended learning approach going forward composing of lectures, additional support materials, clinical/pre-clinical labs and virtual patients. With fewer patients willing to visit the onsite Aston Eye Clinic some students may feel they are not getting as rigorous training and exposure compared to pre-covid graduates.

All university departments offering healthcare courses will have to adapt every aspect of course delivery to ensure we are being trained to the highest standards and ready to face real world patients. For those working within the NHS they may not face damaged career prospects but those who undertake private sector work such as Dentists, Physiotherapists and Optometrists may suffer with an incoming recession.

Due to the robust and continuous communication between students at Aston University and the Vision Sciences department I do feel supported. However I and many other students certainly feel a sense loss and loneliness due to being stuck at home and sadness due to the abrupt way university life has and will be changed for the foreseeable future.

For prospective students studying healthcare courses, I would say keep positive, and keep focused on your end goal of qualifying but take this change as opportunity to develop as a person and clinician. I’ve been becoming more active and building my resilience by cycling and hiking alongside reading about latest developments in telemedicine – something that will revolutionize the way care is delivered in the future!