Optometry

Year 2 modules

In your second year, you will study the following core module:

Year 2 outcomes 

On successful completion of the second year, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate core knowledge of the principles of ophthalmic pharmacology.
• Describe the usage of ophthalmic diagnostic drugs commonly employed by UK optometrists.
• Demonstrate attributes and emerging skills needed to deliver person-centred care.
• Demonstrate knowledge of clinical leadership and management in optometry, relevant to scope of practice.
• Demonstrate an ability to obtain initial consent and verify continuation of consent for a range of patients.
• Demonstrate a developing ability to act ethically and uphold high professional standards.
• Describe key eye health policies and guidance.
• Apply techniques to manage risk through infection control initiatives and maintenance of one's own health.
• Describe the processes involved in visual perception.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of evidence-based practice and appraise published research.
• Perform a range of techniques for the investigation of binocular vision function in patients of all ages, accurately interpreting the results.
• Describe the features of common binocular vision anomalies and have an awareness of management options.
• Describe key ocular manifestations of systemic disease.
• Interpret information from a range of sources to identify ocular manifestations of systemic disease.
• Using a range of techniques, identify and describe abnormal features linked to common conditions affecting the anterior eye.
• Demonstrate awareness of management options for common conditions affecting the anterior eye.
• Using a range of techniques, identify and describe abnormal features linked to common conditions affecting the posterior eye.
• Demonstrate awareness of management options for common conditions affecting the posterior eye.
• Demonstrate theoretical knowledge and core skills for the performance of routine eye examination.
• Select and perform appropriate eye examination techniques for a range of patients, recording all aspects of consultations.
• Demonstrate theoretical knowledge of the properties and optics of spectacle lenses and low vision aids.
• Demonstrate a developing ability to dispense, fit and advise on spectacles for a range of patients.
• Demonstrate theoretical knowledge and clinical skills to fit a range of soft and rigid gas permeable contact lenses.
• Demonstrate ability to manage the anterior eye health of contact lens wearers.
• Select and use common ophthalmic drugs safely and legally.
• Demonstrate knowledge of adverse reactions of ophthalmic drugs and ocular adverse reactions to medication.

Year 3 modules

In your third year, you will study the following core module:

Year 3 outcomes 

On successful completion of the third year, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate an ongoing reflective approach to meeting the expectations and requirements of an optometrist.
• Contribute to service evaluation initiatives and evaluate and apply feedback to improve own practice.
• Demonstrate an ability to identify when people/patients may be at risk.
• Demonstrate detailed knowledge of a range of measures to ensure patient safety and be able to implement these as appropriate.
• Engage with population and public health initiatives, demonstrating understanding of how population data should inform practice and service delivery.
• Engage with technological advances relevant to optometry and general healthcare delivery, and explain the significance of specific developments for enhancing patient outcomes and services.
• Critically evaluate and appraise information from a range of sources to describe and comment upon issues relevant to contemporary optometry, demonstrating an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge.
• Recognise, investigate and discuss a range of anomalies of binocular vision, including approaches to management.
• Demonstrate an ability to manage paediatric patients requiring services including spectacle dispensing, contact lens fitting and low vision assessment.
• Demonstrate an ability to deliver high quality care to patients with significant healthcare and/or additional needs, putting in place adaptive measures where relevant.
• Interpret patient information and the results of investigative techniques to develop a management plan for patients with abnormality or disease of the anterior segment and/or adnexa.
• Safely perform a range of techniques for the investigation of abnormalities of the anterior segment and/or adnexa, selecting appropriate techniques for individual patients.
• Interpret patient information and the results of investigative techniques to develop a management plan for patients with abnormality or disease of the posterior segment.
• Safely perform a range of techniques for the investigation of abnormalities of the posterior segment, selecting appropriate techniques for individual patients.
• Demonstrate ability to make timely and appropriate referrals to other healthcare professionals to ensure patient's needs are met.
• Investigate, diagnose, and manage functional and developmental visual conditions.
• Demonstrate an ability to prescribe, advise and dispense vocational and special optical appliances, in accordance with relevant regulations and standards.
• Conduct a low vision assessment, dispensing appropriate low vision aids and providing relevant advice.
• Recognise and manage contact lens complications, including making appropriate referrals where indicated.
• Demonstrate detailed knowledge of biomedical devices for the treatment of refractive and ocular disorders and understand the role of optometrists in patient care in this field.
• Evaluate the risk-benefit ratio in the use of ophthalmic drugs.
• Demonstrate an ability to make informed decisions regarding the use of ophthalmic drugs in the management of ocular conditions or abnormalities.

Final year modules

In your final year, you will study the following core module:

Final year outcomes 

On successful completion of the final year, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate a consistent ability to deliver high-quality person-centred care involving collaboration with other professionals where relevant.
• Communicate effectively with patients, carers, colleagues, and the public to achieve desired outcomes and critically reflect on own communication to improve professional interactions.
• Independently investigate, diagnose and manage functional and developmental visual and ocular conditions, making informed decisions on treatment and management, including actioning referrals where indicated.
• Uphold high professional standards and practice ethically, working within your own scope of practice and relevant legislation.
• Ensure a safe environment for patients and the public, taking personal responsibility for managing risk and working within limits of own competence.
• Demonstrate professional leadership and management skills and attributes relevant to the scope of practice and make sound judgments in complex and unpredictable circumstances.
• Demonstrate a reflective, ongoing approach to meeting the expectations of an optometry professional to improve the quality of care for patients.
• Demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge and a critical awareness of current issues relevant to the profession, including in specialist areas of practice.
• Demonstrate autonomous research skills in the field of optometry and vision science (e.g. in study planning and execution, data analysis and presentation) communicating conclusions clearly, with an understanding of how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research.

The 12 themes of our MOptom programme present throughout all four years, including:

Personal and Professional Development

In Personal and Professional Development, you will develop some of the key transferable skills relevant to your career as an optometrist. The theme considers professional identity in the early stages as well as communication skills, which will support your patient-facing clinical work. We will cover key topics linked to leadership and management in optometry. Interprofessional learning, with and from other healthcare professions is a key aspect of this theme. You will be supported to develop an ongoing reflective approach to practice, and a lifelong approach to learning.

Delivery of Care

Delivery of Care (DoC) is an important theme delivered and assessed throughout the 4-year MOptom programme. Students will be introduced to the principles of governance pertaining to optometrists, paying particular attention to the Opticians Act and Standards of Practice for both students and qualified optometrists. DoC outlines the key organisations and professional bodies that support and guide optometrists in practice, along with how the profession delivers eye care in private and NHS systems. Specific topics on safeguarding, duty of candour, confidentiality, and equality, diversity and inclusivity combine to provide students with a rounded understanding of the responsibilities of practicing optometrists.

Public Health and Eye Care

In the PHE theme, you will gain an insight into major public health achievements and current challenges, with a focus on the United Kingdom. You will learn about the determinants of health and health inequalities. Key research methods relevant to health and epidemiology will be covered, and we will consider the role of the optometrist in public health so that you are able to contribute to public health initiatives relevant to optometry.

Vision Science and Evidence-Based Practice

This theme is concerned with understanding the underlying mechanisms of human visual perception and the methods used to conduct rigorous scientific enquiry to this end. You will learn about the capacities and properties of the visual system and how these constrain and drive the neural analysis of image data, ultimately delivering our visual perceptions. As the theme progresses, this rigorous approach will be extended to applications in evidence-based practice in clinical contexts. In your third-year, you will carry out a supervised project (i) designed around the principles and/or details of what you have learned about human vision in the previous two years, (ii) how to analyse relevant data and/or the scientific/clinical literature, and (iii) how to present what you find.

Binocular Vision and Paediatrics

Within the BVP theme you will learn about how a patient’s eyes may, or may not, work together and how vision develops through childhood. You will learn the skills required to detect abnormalities in the focussing of the eyes, the co- ordination of the eyes and the sensory functions that allow a patient to bring together the images seen by each eye. You will initially practice with your peers and then later you will move on to see patients in specialist Binocular Vision clinics. You will learn how to assess young patients and how to adapt your testing for patients with special needs. As you progress through the theme you will learn how to appropriately manage young patients and patients with binocular vision anomalies.

Systemic Disease

In the Systemic Disease theme, you will learn about human anatomy and physiology, and disease processes, relevant to optometrists. You’ll then go on to develop an understanding of the ocular manifestations of systemic disease and use our Virtual Patient simulator to experience a range of patient presentations and build your skills in clinical decision making. You’ll develop your knowledge and skills in managing patients with healthcare and additional needs.

Anterior Eye

Welcome to the Anterior Eye theme. Here you will learn about the anatomy and physiology of the anterior eye structures such as the eyelids, cornea, tear film and lens. You will also learn techniques to clinically examine and investigate these structures, such as slit lamp biomicroscopy and tear film tests. Later you will learn additional clinical techniques to help you investigate the signs and symptoms of eye diseases. You will learn more about pathologies that affect the anterior eye and how these diseases are managed, including those that need onward referral to other clinical colleagues. This will prepare you to serve your patients when you are working as a registered optometrist in the future.

Posterior Eye and General Ophthalmology (PEG)

Within the PEG theme, you will be developing your knowledge about the different structures that are found towards the back of the eye and how they function within the eyeball as a whole to provide us with working vision. We start by looking at the anatomy and physiology of these structures to see how they should function normally, and then build on that knowledge to discover how and why things can go wrong, and the impact that this can have on our patients. Alongside theoretical knowledge, you will also learn how to perform a detailed examination of the back of the eye and other aspects of visual function using a variety of instrumentation and techniques, and how to interpret your findings in order to offer your patients the best possible care.

Assessment and Management
Assessment and Management provides you with knowledge and skills required
to perform and understand a range of clinical optometric techniques, covering
both objective and subjective examination methods to perform eye
examinations at any age. You will also demonstrate professionalism in clinical
techniques including accurate and organised record keeping and effective
communication with the patient. In later stages you will be seeing patients in
Primary Care Clinics.

Appliances and Dispensing

Appliances and Dispensing provides you with a grounding in geometric and physical optics where you will learn about the interaction of light with lenses, mirrors and apertures. You will learn about the properties of ophthalmic lenses and spectacle frames, focussing on single vision lenses initially, moving on to more complex lenses and ophthalmic devices. You will develop the theoretical and practical skills to dispense the most appropriate frames and lenses or low vision aids for your patient’s occupational and personal needs and will learn how to verify ophthalmic prescriptions and ascertain reasons for non-tolerance cases. You will also learn about the legislation covering the supply of spectacles, safety spectacles and low vision aids.

Contact Lens and Biomedical devices (CLB)

In this theme, the students will learn and understand contact lenses and biomedical devices for optometry practice. The topics will cover a review of anterior eye and use of slit lamp technique, followed by soft contact lenses, rigid contact lenses, toric lenses for management of astigmatism, presbyopia lenses, and understanding impact of contact lens on the ocular surface. This theme will also include speciality lenses such as scleral, orthokeratology and myopia management lenses, and management of contact lens related complications. The theme will also include legislation relating to sale and supply of CLs. The theory part of the learning materials will be delivered by pre-recorded didactic lectures and face to face seminars. A series of practical and hands on sessions will train students for evidence-based contact lens clinical practice, including several workshops designed in all stages to enhance clinical experience.

Pharmacology and Prescribing

This theme builds knowledge in basic and applied ocular pharmacology and pharmaceutics relevant to the use of ophthalmic drugs for use in general clinical optometric practice. It will also provide a foundation for the appreciation and understanding of the pharmaceutical properties of drugs used for therapeutic treatment of various ocular conditions. Relevant aspects of legislation governing the use, sale and supply of ophthalmic drugs by Optometrists at all training levels will be included together with aspects of ocular adverse reactions to systemic and ophthalmic medication. The theme will also delve into the varied clinical applications of ophthalmic drugs, drug instillation techniques, drug formulations and associated potential adverse reactions. You will learn how to select appropriate drug formulation, dosage and instillation techniques for the clinical requirement and safe management of a patient. The theme will also cover the indications and contraindications for drug use and how to give appropriate advice concerning potential risks.