OQNT Rural Scholarship recipients share findings

 

Last year, Optometry Queensland Northern Territory (OQNT) launched the OQNT Rural Student Placement Scholarship to support optometry students undertake a rural placement in either Queensland or the Northern Territory. Through these scholarships, OQNT hopes to help improve access to optometrists for rural residents. 

In 2025, OQNT provided four Rural Scholarship for Queensland University of Technology final year optometry students. Two recipients, Kelvin Hui and Chanaah Thevasagayam have now finished their placements and here, share their experiences.

Kelvin Hui, Townsville placement

I was fortunate to be awarded a OQNT scholarship to support my clinical placement in Townsville. I spent a week immersed in both public and private optometric practice, at the Townsville University Hospital (TUH) and The Optical Superstore (TOSS) Aitkenvale. This opportunity not only offered a valuable glimpse into regional optometry but also reaffirmed the reason I chose optometry as a profession and my motivation to pursue clinical excellence.

I was the first QUT optometry student to undertake placement at TUH’s ophthalmology department. Over three days in the hospital, I worked alongside Maliha Shorab, the Lead Clinical Optometrist. It quickly became clear how vital optometrists are in supporting an overstretched public health system.

Before Maliha joined, ophthalmologists were working late into the evening, often until 8 or 9 p.m., to clear backlogs. Now, with her dedicated clinic, long-wait patients are seen more regularly and appropriately. Six-month reviews that once took three to four years are now mostly being conducted on time, while ophthalmologists can prioritise more urgent or surgical cases. Her clinic also functions as a triage point for referrals, and an overflow safety net to crosscheck for nurses when consultant clinics are overbooked.

I observed a number of pre- and post-op cataract, glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, AMD and infectious cases, and saw how optometrists liaise with in-house consultants, resident doctors and nurses. I helped work up some patients by doing visual field tests and imaging with advanced equipment that are not available in the QUT clinic. I also had the opportunity to see Indigenous patients, some facing visibly poorer general health and limited support, reinforcing the importance of accessible, culturally safe care.

Back at TOSS, I continued to encounter patients with a range of complex conditions, from a history of endophthalmitis to current end-stage glaucoma and those needing ocular prostheses. What stood out was how the hospital experience could enable better explanation to patients of the likely next steps in their care journey, helping to ease their anxiety and uncertainty.

‘You use it, or you lose it’ is one of Maliha’s quotes that resonated with me. As students, we are trained in a broad range of clinical skills, like gonioscopy, BIO, and Goldmann tonometry with pachymetry. Yet too often these are under-utilised in practice, sometimes leading to poor or unnecessary referrals. This placement reminded me of the importance of using every skill we have acquired, and of advocating for a clinical culture that enables optometrists to practise to the ceiling of their current scope.

I left Townsville with a vision: that the future of optometry in Australia should include expanded hospital roles, greater interdisciplinary collaboration, and potential prescribing rights for oral medications. With optometry workforce saturation on the rise, these developments are not just beneficial but may be essential to the long-term sustainability of our profession.

This experience has been more than a clinical placement. It has been a glimpse into what optometry can be — integrated, collaborative, and capable of delivering more for patients and the health system. It left me genuinely excited to begin my career in optometry.

Chanaah Thevasagayam, Willowra and Wilora placement

The OQNT Rural Scholarship facilitated my rural placement alongside an experienced outreach optometrist and an eye health coordinator, as the three of us travelled to the remote communities of Willowra and Wilora in the Northern Territory. With fewer than 200 residents in each town, these communities have very limited access to regular eye care. This placement not only challenged me with complex clinical cases but also highlighted the importance of delivering care in a culturally respectful and sensitive way.

The need for regular eye care in remote communities is clear, with many patients presenting with advanced conditions rarely seen in metropolitan clinics. Some had adapted to poor vision over time and didn’t initially consider it concerning, despite significant issues such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and pterygia affecting their sight. These cases highlighted the importance of refining core clinical skills like retinoscopy and trial frame refraction and gave me valuable exposure to decision-making for complex patients in settings with minimal equipment and support. One of the key lessons I learned was the importance of tailoring management plans to suit patients in remote communities. This included being pragmatic with refractive errors so that we could provide ready-made reading glasses on site, and also adjusting recommendations based on access to medications, cost, feasibility of surgery or their understanding of the condition.

Patient attendance varied significantly between communities and was often influenced by local events or cultural commitments. One of the biggest challenges was continuity of care, especially in smaller communities like Willowra and Wilora, since optometrists may only visit once or twice a year. Therefore, it was vital to see as many patients as possible during our time in the community.  As Willowra was the larger community, the dedicated health clinic had local nurses to facilitate attendance and ensure continuity of care after we left. On one of our last days, I travelled with a local nurse around the community to pick up patients. I saw how crucial community health workers are and that as visiting optometrists, we must rely on their deep relationships and trust within the community.

Most clinics have a retinal camera to monitor eye conditions like diabetic retinopathy, but in the smaller communities we visited, we only had access to a portable slit lamp. With less technology available, it was more challenging to make confident diagnoses, but it pushed me to refine my clinical judgment and improve my skills, particularly in trial frame refraction and retinoscopy.

What left the greatest impression on me was the impact high quality outreach services can have on the lives of Indigenous Australians. A routine eye test, something we perform every day, can significantly improve vision and daily functioning for those with limited access to care. This experience organised by the Brien Holden Foundation, has inspired me to stay involved in outreach programs and support efforts to close the health gap in rural and remote  communities.