Newly qualifieds: Alcon Scholarship investing in the future of optometry

Scholars benefitted from 20 days of training in a range of skills

The idea behind the Alcon Scholarship was to give newly qualifieds extra skills and increased confidence as well as broadening their career horizons. Optician spoke to some of the first young optometrists to complete the programme.

The scholarship was launched in January 2014 and advertisements were placed in Optician, opening up the programme to newly qualified (less than five years' experience) optometrist practising in the UK and Ireland.

The newly qualifieds were invited to write a statement, complete an online questionnaire and provide a referee. From the initial application 22 were inducted into the scholarship.

Over the last two years the delegates have gathered at 10 two-day courses covering a range of topics devised by the scholarship faculty. Delegates were asked for their input on what they would like to know more about.

The course was conceived at the Alcon Academy in Camberley in partnership with Dr Anna Kwartz and Dr Steve Parrish of Innovative Optical Training.

Most of the course modules were held at the Academy but the scholars also enjoyed one trip to Alcon contact lens manufacturing facility in Frankfurt.

Optician spoke to five Alcon scholars – Deborah Hodgson, Samantha Parker, Tracey Bolton, Kushal Garala and Ebrahim Lorgat, – about their experience of the course ahead of a certificate presentation ceremony and prizegiving.

They hailed from diverse working environments spanning multiple and independent practice, and hospital optometry.

They seemed delighted with the project and said they were more rounded, better professionals as a result of their participation. They all praised it for the additional skills it had provided them with.

Jonathan Bench, head of professional affairs at Alcon, said the idea behind the programme was to help young professionals develop. 'As a pre-reg there's a lot of support and a lot of structure but once you qualify you're one your own,' he said. 'We wanted the chance to keep the energy levels high, to continue that professional journey.'

He said  Alcon invested to constantly innovate in contact lenses. The scholarship programme was a way of investing in the workforce. 'We are innovative in product and we want to be innovative in our support for the profession too,' he said.

He hoped that by taking young professionals out of their comfort zone and allowing them to learn new skills and apply them in practice it would develop them as optometrists and enhance their career prospects.

This personal development idea behind the scholarship certainly chimed with the delegates. 'It's more personal development than professional [education],' said Lorgat.

One of the biggest benefits they noted was the link it had created between practitioners from different areas of practice and working environments. 'It has really allowed us to talk about a range of new areas such as technology,' said Parker. 'The best part is the interaction with all of the other people here. It opens your horizons,' chimed Garala.

Parker agreed: 'As optometrists we spend so much time one on one, in [the scholarship programme] we have done presentations, debating, statistics.' Hodgson thought a particular strength of the course lay in the opportunity to experience elements of optics you wouldn't normally come up against, . She also praised the scholarship organisers for including those topics the delegates wanted to see on the course.

The open learning nature of the course was also welcome, said Hodgson, as was the chance to learn advanced examining skills. 'As it's not CET, you don't feel like you are doing the wrong thing.'

Among the topics covered in the course were clinical issues, including wet lab work, but more general topics too such as research, statistics, handing the media, presenting, debating, conference calls and webinars and clinical technology.

One of the most enjoyable elements for the delegates was finding people at different stages of development on the course, thereby allowing them to learn and teach at the same time.

That peer group aspect was highlighted by Bolton: 'You can see what your peers are doing,' she said and it allows you to consider your own career in that context. Anna and Steve are great as well.'

Another highlight was the visit to Alcon's production facility in Frankfurt which all five agreed had been really useful. This formed the centrepiece of a business-related module during which delegates made presentations to one another. Bolton said the experience had given her the confidence to deliver a presentation to colleagues in her workplace, including ophthalmologists, shortly after she returned. 'I would never have done that before,' she said. None of the delegates Optician spoke to had visited a contact lens manufacturing facility before.

Ahead of the presentation Bench paid tribute to the delegates and lauded them as tomorrow's movers and shakers and the 'future of optometry'. He urged them to stay in touch and bounce ideas off one another. 'I don't see this as the end, I see this as the beginning.'

Only time will tell if the delegates stay in touch but the delegates have all profited from their time on the programme. 'It adds to your experience,' said Garala, 'It shows you things you would never get to see.'

'It gives you a much broader appreciation of the profession,' said Lorgat. 'When we started two years ago I didn't realise there were so many things I could do. I realise there are now.'

Source: Newly qualifieds: Alcon Scholarship investing in the future of optometry