19 July 2024
In 2023, Aston became the first Adobe Creative Campus in the Midlands, offering all students and staff free access to Adobe Creative Cloud software, continuing its academic tradition of ensuring its graduates are among the best prepared for the modern workplace.
Dr Samantha Strong, lecturer at Aston University School of Optometry, said: “Being an Adobe Creative Campus means staff have the opportunity to deliver teaching content in new, creative ways, but it also means that students can utilise Adobe software in their learning and assessments, facilitated through online training and support. It really is a huge benefit of being part of Team Aston."Building on nearly 100 years of innovation, Aston University School of Optometry is a leader in healthcare workforce preparation, ranking 10th in the UK for health professions (Guardian University Guide, 2024).
Aston is a vibrant hub for clinical learning, taking a creative approach, driven by a strategy, that aims to prepare students for work and life through contemporary learning experiences enriched with professional practice across all disciplines.
While Aston has a well-established reputation in educating and delivering entry-level optometrists to the eye care workforce, it also has an extensive postgraduate portfolio that is quickly evolving to meet the current and predicted demand for advanced and enhanced clinical roles and hands-on practical skills.
As laid out in the government’s ambitious 2023 NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, UK education needs to increase by 50–65% by 2030–2031 in order to meet the expected demand, and Aston is well placed to make a significant contribution.
Aston is the only UK university offering ophthalmic professionals a professional doctorate (DOptom/DOphSc), and one of only three offering a specialty-specific MSc course, mapping to the Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England.
In addition, in 2023, Aston was the first university in the UK to deliver a postgraduate independent prescribing (IP) course under the General Optical Council’s new education and training requirements.
Imogen Hawthorne, programme co-lead for Aston MSc Advanced Clinical Practice in Ocular Health and and deputy clinical lead for ophthalmology at Modality Community Services, said: “While it was important to us to design our Advanced Practice programme with a practical focus, I was keen to think imaginatively about how we could assess our students’ knowledge while equipping them with practical skills to apply in their workplace setting.
While it was important to us to design our Advanced Practice programme with a practical focus, I was keen to think imaginatively about how we could assess our students’ knowledge while equipping them with practical skills to apply in their workplace setting
“This led us to embed assessments such as clinical audits, designing patient information materials, creating an infographic, and filming a YouTube-style education video. Aston’s Adobe Creative status was the real icing on the cake to support our students with these creative assignments."
As the academic year draws to a close, Aston is preparing for what promises to be an exciting autumn term of ‘firsts’ with the launch of the new Blackboard Ultra system to support programmes with online content delivery, as well as some further additions to their already well-established catalogue of practical skills workshops.
Aston postgraduate courses are supported by several face-to-face practical teaching days, designed to reinforce learning and give students the opportunity to try hands-on clinical skills. In 2022, they opened their simulation suite (the first of its kind in the UK), equipped with five Eyesi slit-lamp simulators, and this year are building on their reputation as trailblazers in this field by working with the first Simulation Lead for Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Arijit Mitra, to deliver two full-day Advanced Optometry and Ophthalmology Practical Skills workshops in November.
Mitra said: "I am thrilled to be working with Aston on this project. Nurses, orthoptists and optometrists have long been an untapped resource, [who are] highly-skilled and integral to the ophthalmology workforce.
“Investing in and upskilling these invaluable professionals has become an urgent priority to future-proof our clinical services, tackle current waiting lists, and meet the expected demand.”
Nurses, orthoptists and optometrists have long been an untapped resource, highly-skilled, and integral to the ophthalmology workforce
Supported by take-home materials created using Adobe programs, workshop delegates will have the opportunity to gain continuing professional development by trying skills such as YAG Laser Capsulotomy on a hyper-realistic dummy eye, intravitreal treatments, and eye casualty skills.
The Aston Medical School nursing team will offer a station on venepuncture and cannulation as well as managing the acutely unwell patient, and delegates will have access to Aston’s extensive biometry suite to learn more about biometry interpretation and acquisition. Find out more and reserve your workshop place: Advanced Optometry and Ophthalmology Clinical Skills Workshop.
