Placements helped me gain so much more confidence in my clinical ability

What made you decide to study Orthoptics, and why the course at the University of Sheffield?

“I initially applied for Dentistry but was unsuccessful, so the University of Sheffield offered me the choice to send my application to be considered for an alternative course. That’s when I discovered orthoptics. At the time I didn’t know much about other allied health care professions as they aren’t as broadly talked about, but I immediately thought this was the right course for me. I used to see an orthoptist regularly as a child so I knew what the job entailed. I started doing more research and became increasingly interested in the course, which is one of just three orthoptics courses in the UK.

“I had visited Sheffield for an Open Day and loved it; I immediately felt at home and all the staff were so passionate about their subjects. I loved that the medical school was attached to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and we would get to have clinical sessions within the hospital to help prepare us for day to day working life!”

What did you enjoy most about the course? 

“I loved my experience studying orthoptics at Sheffield. Sheffield was an amazing city to be a student in, with a great balance of city life and greenspace.

The orthoptics course was a great community to be a part of. Orthoptics is quite a small profession and this is reflected in the course size - there are only around 30-40 students in a year, so you get to know your peers and lecturers really well!

Alisha Bycroft

BMedSci Orthoptics

“The lecturers on the course were amazing and provided great support throughout. We would have regular tutorials where we could discuss certain topics in depth and consolidate what we had learnt in lectures. We would also have clinical skills sessions where we could practise on peers and sometimes actor patients. This really helped prepare me for placements where we would do this on real patients in the clinic!”

How did you find travelling across the UK for your clinical placements? What did you gain from this experience? 

“Placements were such a great part of the course; they helped me gain so much more confidence in my clinical ability and provide more context to what we learnt in lectures by seeing it applied in practice.

“Placements are distributed across the year and - with the exception of first year - are usually four weeks long. It was amazing to be able to spend a short period of time living and working in a different city. At times placements could be intense but the experience was definitely worth it. You are assigned a clinical tutor on placement to support you and I had an amazing experience with all of my tutors who were happy to go over topics and discuss patient cases with me.

I went to Bedford, Great Yarmouth, York, Nottingham, Newcastle, Chester and Cambridge, so I got to experience a broad range of hospital environments. Some departments are bigger than others and different areas have higher prevalence of certain patient conditions so it really helps to visit different places.

Alisha Bycroft

BMedSci Orthoptics

“A non-orthoptic related gain was also just more independence. You would often be sent with a placement partner but on a couple of my placements I lived by myself. I felt I learnt a lot of valuable life skills such as arranging my travel and accommodation, and adapting to a new place for a short period of time.”

How has your degree informed your current career path?

“Time has flown since I graduated in 2022! I moved to Durham and have been working as a Band 6 Orthoptist part time for County Durham and Darlington NHS trust.

“I know I want to pursue further study in the future, but currently I am loving my work as an orthoptist and I find it so rewarding being able to help people day to day. Orthoptics is a developing profession and so many more extended roles are becoming available for orthoptists to train in and this is something I will be considering in the future.”

Do you have any advice for a student thinking of studying orthoptics at Sheffield?

“My best advice would be to try and get some work experience in an orthoptics department. This will give you a feel for what life is like as an orthoptist. I didn’t get any work experience so it isn’t crucial, but it helps to research the course and speak to current students or graduates. I worked on The Student Room as a student ambassador whilst I was at university and contributed to many threads about orthoptics and had my own ‘Ask me Anything’ thread which is still online to read!”