“I wanted a new challenge”

What stage of your career are you currently in? Where do you practise?

I have been qualified for over two years and work in an independent practice in Essex where I am an optometrist partner. I also work part-time within the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust in the paediatric and neuro-ophthalmology clinics.

How did you first become aware of the profession?

My father is a contact lens optician, and I inherited his very myopic eyes, so I’ve been wearing glasses and contact lenses from a very young age. In my teens, I became increasingly interested in the field of optometry and took a part-time job at Specsavers during my A-Levels. My directors there offered to put me through the dispensing optician course, and after qualifying and travelling for a few years I decided to take the next step.

Who influenced or inspired the decision to go into optometry?

One of my directors at Specsavers. When I was considering whether to make the jump from dispensing optician to optometrist, and whether I could manage it, he was incredibly encouraging and supportive. I didn’t have the traditional A-Levels you usually need for optometry, however he wrote me an excellent character statement, which I was very grateful for as I believe it helped me secure my place at university.

What were the main reasons you wanted to become an optometrist?

I had already been in the industry for a decade, and I wanted a new challenge. I could see from my UK and overseas colleagues just how broad of a spectrum optometry is and how many interesting opportunities are available in and outside of the testing room. I also found contact lenses interesting, particularly fitting them on the eye to see how they made an improvement to vision; how even more complex prescriptions could be more efficiently corrected with contact lenses than with glasses, for example the benefits of rigid gas permeable lenses.

What have you learned from your experience of optometry so far?

No two patients, or even their two eyes, are the same. You need to expect the unexpected and be flexible in your approach to communicating and managing your patients. There is no such thing as a ‘quick look’ at someone’s eyes because it will always run deeper than that. Further learning is essential to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of our scope of practice, and the further qualifications I am taking will make a difference to my management of patients and enhance the care they receive.

You need to expect the unexpected and be flexible in your approach to communicating and managing your patients

What is your favourite aspect of optometry?

I like to think I’m a people person. I enjoy talking to people and communicating with them. I especially love being able to explain things to patients in a way that they can understand in order to empower them with knowledge of their condition so they can manage it effectively and feel better. After a contact lens fitting, the patient can be quite amazed by how much a contact lens can do for them, enabling them to see so clearly without glasses. Once they’re able to put the contact lenses on and take them off again by themselves, they’re on their way – it’s satisfying to see patients’ confidence improve once they’ve been fitted with contact lenses. 

Do you have a career path in mind? What are your professional goals?

I am very fortunate to have been able to grasp several opportunities very early on in my career as an optometrist. I am looking forward to completing my independent prescriber (IP) training, which my local optical committee has supported me with, to offer an extra level of care to my patients.

Otherwise, I want my independent practice to continue to be successful. It is daunting becoming an optometrist partner in an established practice, but I hope that our team can continue to go from strength to strength in the future and continue to make a good impact in our community. As far as the work in the eye hospital goes, I would like to be able to use my further qualifications in an extended role clinic, whether it be cornea or glaucoma.

What further qualifications have you taken? Why did you opt to take them?

I completed my minor eye conditions service (MECS) and WOPEC glaucoma training shortly after qualifying. I enjoy the clinical aspect of a MECS appointment and seeing lots of different pathology, particularly in the anterior eye. I then completed the medical retina professional certificate in the autumn of 2023 to improve my knowledge of retinal disease and to enhance my optical coherence tomography interpretation. I started the hospital placement part of my IP qualification this autumn.

Do you have any advice for current students and pre-regs who are interested in pursuing further qualifications in the future?

One of my College of Optometrists assessors advised me to take some time after qualifying to be an optometrist and gain experience and confidence. It takes time to know what ‘normal’ looks like in most people’s eyes. Once you get comfortable with what is normal and what isn’t, you can better absorb the extra detail and apply the knowledge you’ll gain from the professional certificate modules.

I am very fortunate to have been able to grasp several opportunities very early on in my career as an optometrist

What helped you settle into university or the workplace?

At university I was very lucky to meet the person who would become one of my closest friends on the very morning we started. The Optometry Society socials helped me meet other course mates too.

At work, I was fortunate to know most of my colleagues already and they helped me settle in. I would advise doing work experience in the practice of your eventual pre-reg, that way when you return after university, you’ll have some familiar faces to welcome you.

Is there one thing that you wish someone had told you about optometry before you started?

University is a huge jump from working in practice. And pre-reg is a huge jump from university! When you start out in your pre-reg it’s normal to feel out of your comfort zone for a good six months, and you have to make peace with that. There will be days when you think you’ve nailed it, and other days where you wonder how they even let you out of university. It’s normal to feel that way and important to remember that progress isn’t always linear, but you will get there with time. Listen to your supervisors and research the things you aren’t sure about – there are a lot of resources out there to help with pre-reg, so make the most of them.

There will be days when you think you’ve nailed it, and other days where you wonder how they even let you out of university. It’s normal to feel that way

How do you approach balancing studying and work, with socialising and making time for yourself?

I struggled during pre-reg at the height of the pandemic. It wasn’t easy for me to switch off because going out for a coffee and socialising was off the cards. Exercising – whether swimming, hiking or a post-work gym session to work off the stress of the day – helps me to focus my mind somewhere other than work and exams, as does catching up with my friends on the weekend. Travelling is the best way to truly switch off and immerse myself in new surroundings, so I try to make sure I have something booked every few months to look forward to.

Experiencing Johnson & Johnson STEP

What was your experience of Johnson & Johnson STEP as a pre-registration optometrist?

I really enjoyed it and found the additional preparation sessions so useful, particularly for contact lens fitting and aftercare, and the more focused objective structured clinical examination classrooms. If I needed additional support outside of work with my pre-reg, the mentor team were always there to help and offer advice. Being able to discuss things with other pre-regs at a similar stage of their journey was helpful too.

What made you want to join as a mentor? What does your role look like?

I enjoyed the contact lens classrooms where we discussed patient management and assessing eye health and lens fit. It highlighted things I wasn’t always considering in daily practice, such as the quality of the lens surface. My record keeping and management became much more comprehensive as a result, and I found it valuable to talk through the contact lens routine with other pre-regs.

What made you want to join as a mentor? What does your role look like?

I found the additional support provided by Johnson & Johnson to be greatly beneficial, particularly the virtual classrooms that discussed different patient management scenarios. I found the advice given by the course leads and mentors to be really useful, and I enjoyed the supportive nature of the classrooms and the open discussion elements.

My role as a mentor includes assisting on the virtual classrooms and Zoom drop-in sessions, which are a little less structured and provide pre-regs with a chance to ask any questions they might have about the Scheme for Registration.

Are you an early career optometrist? Share your story with OT by emailing our senior reporter, Kimberley Young.