“IT’S NICE TO SAY YES TO ANY OPPORTUNITY”

Independent prescribing optometrist, Josie Evans, explains how the ‘narrow door’ of optometry has opened up a wealth of career possibilities

I was thinking about doing medicine for a long time, but I didn’t want to do surgery. I had family members who were optometrists, and they loved their careers and were passionate about them, so it highlighted what a great profession it was. It was last minute, before we had to submit our final choices, that I chose optometry instead.

I went to the University of Manchester, which was the best experience. The supervisors were really hands-on, and wanted to get the best out of us as individuals. They were really engaging, which made us want to do even better for them. I still speak to some of the supervisors today. If I see them at conferences, I run over and say hi. For them, we’re just one of many students, but for us, they’re the people who inspired us to get through the degree.

When I started looking for a pre-reg placement, I emailed a dozen independent practices in or around London, but I didn’t hear back from any of them. I was speaking to somebody at an AOP meeting in my capacity as a student rep, saying how hard I was finding it. They put me in touch with Gordon Ilett, who was director of Linklater Warren at the time. That’s how I got an interview. It’s all down to the AOP that I found a pre-reg placement.

I have stayed at Linklater Warren ever since. This summer, I had been there for six years. It has gone really quickly, but then when I look back on my pre-reg it feels like a lifetime ago.

During lockdown, I was working in practice with one colleague. We had so many emergency patients. We could diagnose them, but I had to refer them to a different practice or the hospital for management. I felt like if we were in that scenario again, I would want to do more.

I started teaching at the end of 2020, as a visiting clinical tutor at City, University of London. Through City, I met Giovanni Montesano, a research fellow with the Crabb Lab. I started working as his research assistant, and we also co-led a separate project. The research looked at structural perimetry, using optical coherence tomography data to determine the starting points of the visual field test, aiming to make it quicker and more accurate. We presented at the Imaging and Perimetry Society, and won an award. That was a monumental moment, because I’d never presented my own work before. With optometry, once you go in one door it opens others. It’s nice to say yes to any opportunity. You never know where it will lead.

I did my independent prescribing (IP) course at the University of Hertfordshire. We would bring examples and ask experienced IP practitioners how they would manage them. The course was fantastic for a general understanding of how the body works. I passed in March 2022.

I started working at Moorfields Eye Hospital two days a week in September 2022, in glaucoma, cataracts, paediatrics, and low vision clinics. Starting a new job is daunting, but I settled in easily.

NAME: Josie Evans

ROLE: Independent prescribing optometrist at Linklater Warren LOCATION: London

Any regrets?

It is nice to delve deeper into how I can manage a patient. When I started at Moorfields I was recently IP-qualified. It is nice that I can get lots of experience prescribing in the hospital, as part of a team.

Since January 2021 I have also been a member of Johnson & Johnson Vision’s (JJV) Junior Faculty. I mainly teach virtual classes for undergraduate and pre-reg optometrists, and facilitate peer reviews and discussion workshops for qualified optometrists.

I’ve been thinking about a PhD for a long time, but I’m not sure what I would give up to do it. Another avenue is to consider having my own practice. But I’m quite happy at the moment, so I’m just going to learn as much as I can, particularly from the hospital. In a couple of years, I’ll probably think about making a more permanent mark in either direction.

People can think of optometry as limiting. But it’s a narrow door, and as soon as you go through, the room opens up and it’s huge. You realise it’s full of possibilities.

I applied for a few hospital jobs before I started at Moorfields, but I think it worked out for the best. It allowed me to do IP first, and to take up more responsibility with JJV. So, I would say no regrets.

Many times, I’ve gone home and worried about something that I could have easily checked with a colleague. That’s general advice I wish I had had sooner: if in doubt, ask. It’s better that you go home and sleep a full night than wake up worrying. That’s the only thing I wish I had known earlier. Other than that, everything has happened for the right reasons. I’m a firm believer of that.