What do pre-registration supervisors think of graduate optometrist clinical abilities?

Background:The General Optical Council publishes a list of clinical competencies (‘stage 1 competencies’)which undergraduate optometry students must demonstrate before they enter a pre-registration placement. This study set out to gather the views of pre-registration supervisors on whether they possess the stage 1 competencies at the start of their placement. Methods: An invitation to complete an online survey was sent to all those on the College of Optometrists’ supervisor database. Supervisors were asked to consider each of the stage 1 competencies individually and report whether they believed their trainee was able to demonstrate it before any training. Possible responses were ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and‘Don’t Know’. Results: Forty six supervisors completed the survey in August and September 2015. The competencies relating to management plans, interpreting records and visual impairment were the least likely to be considered possessed, with 17 percent of supervisors affirming trainees had these competencies. Competencies relating to refractive correction were the most likely to be considered possessed (89 per cent). Significance: This sample of supervisors considered that their trainees did not possess some of the competencies which were demonstrated at undergraduate level. Possible reasons for this include the standards for stage 1 being set too high, a lack of supplementary information about what is meant by each competency and deficiencies in training/assessment at undergraduate level. Further work needs to be done to understand where mismatch occurs since a reliable and mutually understood set of clinical competencies will facilitate public protection (supervisors will know when they can delegate/need to check) and trainee attainment of registration level competencies. Limitations of this study include the fact that the sample size was small and the participants were self-selecting.