Orthoptics Bsc 2021

Hi !

Really good question you have asked here and was definitely something I was concerned about before studying the course also. Orthoptics is very different to nursing in that sense. As an Orthoptist you are part of a multidisciplinary team, which consists of Optometrists, Orthoptists and Ophthalmologists and to be able to provide the best treatment for patients it is essential all members work together as each have their own speciality in the eye clinic. Ophthalmologists are the doctors so do sign off on surgeries and perform the surgeries however, they wouldn't be able to without Orthoptists. Orthoptists are the first stage of this process, they assess the patients and perform the tests to initially decide if the patient needs surgery and from there pass onto the Ophthalmologist describing what surgery the patient needs. There is a lot of conferring in this career as not all cases are the same and often Ophthalmologists and Orthoptists work together to plan surgeries for patients. When on clinical placement I never thought it seemed as if the Orthoptist was in the shadow of the Ophthalmologist, it seemed very team work based , working together using each others skills to form a diagnosis and treatment. The patients are usually passed between each 3 members of the team and each member has a specific role in their treatment!

I found the interview okay, it was a lot better than I expected it to be. All the staff in the admissions team are also the lecturers for the course therefore, they mainly want to see your passion and dedication to the course. The interviews focus on assessing your consideration of the NHS values as being part of the NHS/ HCPC after you graduate means its essential.

One of the main prospects of this course is the career opportunities and is another reason why I chose the course. Being an NHS career there is usually quite a high demand for graduating Orthoptists. Recently the government has released extra funding for Orthoptists and other Allied health care courses as part of a long term plan to reduce the shortages of staff in these health care professions. You can find out more about this here. There is also opportunities for further research (masters or PHd).

I definitely wouldn't say Orthoptics is 'looked down upon', it is an accredited degree by the HCPC and once registered allows you to work as an Orthoptist basically anywhere in the world. To be an Orthoptist you need an Orthoptics degree, a degree in Medicine wouldn't allow you to be an Orthoptist, they would have to study Orthoptics also. All health care careers are highly respected across the country and in Universities. It is essential to have health care workers that specialise in areas. There is a much wider health care community than just Doctors and each are respected within their own profession, as like any career not a single person can do everything a team is required and especially so within the NHS.

Hope this has helped you out and feel free to ask anymore questions

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

HI Alisha
that makes me what to do orthoptics even more! I have few more questions because I couldn't do placement this year because of covid.
what are the Day of a orthoptist like? is it a bit like GP? do they have their own Office assigned to them where they meet patients?

what are they pay like? I know it starts at band 5, does this degree allow you to be in high-ish band?

Hi!

With regards to the physics element of the course, would you recommend anything to look at? What sort of optical physics do you study? And how have you found studying the optics part of the course? As well, do you have any recommended reading? (:

hi, i am applying for orthoptics and would like to ask if orthoptics is very maths and physics based and if so how much?

Hi M.FA,

I have just finished my first year of Orthoptics. I personally found the modules really interesting and definitely challenging as they cover so many new areas of visual science that I had never explored prior to starting the course! There is a large variety of topics covered by the modules for example we had in first year : Anatomy and Physiology which was quite similar to A level biology with some extra bits and in more detail we then moved to Ocular anatomy and physiology for second term which is just specific to the eyes and the visual system rather than including other aspects of the body like in first term. We also have Strabismus, which I would say is the main module, here you learn everything to do with the eyes including squints, tests for eye disorders and different eye conditions, the module is very biology based but is unique to orthoptics and I found this really interesting as most aspects of this module I had never learnt before. We also have a module in Optics which is very physics based, in first year we learn the theory behind optics in a non visual context and then in 2nd year we will then apply the optics we learnt to the eyes. The other modules are Interpersonal skills and participation and society, these are more sociology based and more focused on communication with patients and the ethics of being an orthoptist. We also have clinical skills sessions in the practical room which is where we practice testing on peers, effectively we put to practice what we learn in strabismus to help prepare us for clinical placement which is really helpful and I always enjoy clinical skills. I hope this has given you a bit more of an insight into Orthoptics, let me know if you have anymore questions and I would love to help.

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

hi, did you find the optics modules difficult? would it be difficult for somebody who didn't study A level physics or maths?

Hi!

Thank you for your question The physics element of the course is focused on Optics and then goes onto Visual Optics in 2nd year, at Sheffield the lecturers prefer to teach us the basic physics principles of Optics before we apply them to the visual system, I found this made it a lot easier to learn as it is a more progressive method of learning, building on top of prior knowledge! I personally found 1st year Optics not difficult, primarily because I studied A- level physics at Sixth Form, whereas some of my peers who hadn't studied Physics or Maths for a while struggled a bit more. From that I would say doing some reading of the A level physics syllabus may be a good way of preparing for this, I did AQA and there are tons of youtube videos which are great at explaining the concepts or A level physics textbooks. I will list below some topics that overlap between Optics and A level Physics that you might want to look into:

- Reflection
- Refraction
- Refractive Index
- Waves (Wave Theory)
- Prisms (light dispursion)
- Basic Geometry (SOHCAHTOA etc from GCSE Maths)

This is just a quick list of the main things that helped me understand the topic well, there is no need to do extra reading or work before the course as the lecturers cover everything from the beginning assuming everyone has no prior knowledge so this is just a recommendation if you have spare time to give yourself a headstart! I personally love optics it's a nice change from a very Biology dominated course and gives some variance to our learning, its particularly interesting in 2nd year now as it is applied to the visual system so it makes more sense why we learnt everything in 1st year!

Hope this helps, feel free to ask anymore questions


Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

Hi! How are you!I am planning on going to the Uni of Liverpool for Orthoptics but I will be commuting and wanted to know what the typical week is like! How many days of the week are you on campus, is it always full days? Thank You

Hi!

I am not sure how much I can help you with this as I am at Sheffield and not sure if the timetables are similar to Liverpool. However, as a general for us at Sheffield we typically don't have full days everyday, mainly half days I would say with the odd full day and the odd day off. But we usually are in everyday of the week with the exception of the odd day off!

Hope this helps, sorry I can't give you more specifics, hopefully a Uni of Liverpool Student Orthoptist will see this thread and be able to contribute a bit more!

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

Hi, I had interviews for Liverpool and Sheffield. Both were very different however all interviewees were very nice. Sheffield i got asked
Why orthoptics?
Why Sheffield?
What research did you do to help you choose course?
What is professional behaviour and why is it important?
How do you feel about travelling to placements?
What are the challenges of providing good quality care?
Tell me about a time where you worked in a team.
What skills do you have that contribute to being an orthoptist?
Liverpool -
What do you know about orthoptics?
What is the difference between Orthoptics and Optometry?
Tell me about a time when you played within a role.
And there was one more that i can’t remember!!
I got offers for both and i have an interview for Manchester optometry in 2 days

thank you very much for this! i know this will be greatly appreciated by upcoming applicants such as myself. Which interview did you prefer ? and congratulations for getting an offer from liv and sheff
good luck for the manchester interview!

Hi, I had interviews for Liverpool and Sheffield. Both were very different however all interviewees were very nice. Sheffield i got asked
Why orthoptics?
Why Sheffield?
What research did you do to help you choose course?
What is professional behaviour and why is it important?
How do you feel about travelling to placements?
What are the challenges of providing good quality care?
Tell me about a time where you worked in a team.
What skills do you have that contribute to being an orthoptist?
Liverpool -
What do you know about orthoptics?
What is the difference between Orthoptics and Optometry?
Tell me about a time when you played within a role.
And there was one more that i can’t remember!!
I got offers for both and i have an interview for Manchester optometry in 2 days

Hi! How are you!I am planning on going to the Uni of Liverpool for Orthoptics but I will be commuting and wanted to know what the typical week is like! How many days of the week are you on campus, is it always full days? Thank You

Hi, I'm due to have my orthoptics interviews and wanted to ask how the interviews are like and what type of questions do you get asked as i feel like I'm not prepared at all.......

Hi, I had interviews for Liverpool and Sheffield. Both were very different however all interviewees were very nice. Sheffield i got asked
Why orthoptics?
Why Sheffield?
What research did you do to help you choose course?
What is professional behaviour and why is it important?
How do you feel about travelling to placements?
What are the challenges of providing good quality care?
Tell me about a time where you worked in a team.
What skills do you have that contribute to being an orthoptist?
Liverpool -
What do you know about orthoptics?
What is the difference between Orthoptics and Optometry?
Tell me about a time when you played within a role.
And there was one more that i can’t remember!!
I got offers for both and i have an interview for Manchester optometry in 2 days

Hi!

Congrats on getting an interview! This post here by emcraw77 seems to have answered your question, I agree with what has been written here for Sheffield. They mainly want to see your passion for the course and know why you want to study Orthoptics and ensure you know what the course is about mainly!

Best of luck with your interview, if you have anymore questions I am more than happy to answer

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

Hi,

Learning for the BSc Orthoptics course is promoted through a wide variety of activities that enable students to become autonomous and continuous learners. Interactive lectures, practical and clinical skills group work, simulation, directed study, role play, problem based learning, small group work, student-led seminars, collaborative project work and interactive tutorials are key learning strategies of the programmes.

Your week would be split into individual and taught learning, your on-campus learning may not be all comprised into one day e.g. have 3 full days and 2 days off, it is more likely that you would have varied hours on-campus throughout the week e.g. 9-11 lectures then a 12-1 seminar etc.

I hope this has helped your decision making. Other things to bear in mind when commuting is Lime Street Station is a ten minute walk away, there is also a large car park on Mount Pleasant where many driving students park which is also a 10 minute walk from campus and there are loads of bus links!

Antonia
University of Liverpool Student Ambassador.

Hi!
I’m currently deciding on which university I should pick and was wondering what your timetable is like? I’m unsure if I should commute to university or if it would be easier to live in accommodation but I’m not too sure on what a typical timetable for orthoptics is like so not too sure what to do.
Thank you!

Hi,

Learning for the BSc Orthoptics course is promoted through a wide variety of activities that enable students to become autonomous and continuous learners. Interactive lectures, practical and clinical skills group work, simulation, directed study, role play, problem based learning, small group work, student-led seminars, collaborative project work and interactive tutorials are key learning strategies of the programmes.

Your week would be split into individual and taught learning, your on-campus learning may not be all comprised into one day e.g. have 3 full days and 2 days off, it is more likely that you would have varied hours on-campus throughout the week e.g. 9-11 lectures then a 12-1 seminar etc.

I hope this has helped your decision making. Other things to bear in mind when commuting is Lime Street Station is a ten minute walk away, there is also a large car park on Mount Pleasant where many driving students park which is also a 10 minute walk from campus and there are loads of bus links!

Antonia
University of Liverpool Student Ambassador.