Bodies agree to OSCE exams after final pilot

The College of Optometrists and the General Optical Council have confirmed they are happy with the format of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and for it to be used for the first time this summer as the final step to qualification as an optometrist.

This follows the final pilot of the proposed OSCE-based final assessment, which took place last week at the Royal College of General Practitioners' offices in Croydon, south London.

The trial comprised 16 individual five-minute OSCE tasks which were undertaken in rotation by existing College examiners under the observation of other examiners. The stations represent a cross-section of the main clinical competencies in which a pre-registration optometrist has to show evidence of competence during the two-stage work based assessment period.