The course is limited in number.

The educational plan provides 180 University Educational Credits (cfu) divided into three years:

• first year: essential knowledge to deal with the first internship experience and acquire basic skills
• second year: professional skills in clinical settings, theoretical aspects to acquire 'best possible practice'
• third year: specialist insights to achieve professional autonomy and responsibility.

Students carry out daily internship activities at contracted eye clinics, institutes or ASLs. The internship involves the performance of practical activities with progressive assumption of large degrees of autonomy.

• NHS and contracted facilities
• Medical and/or multi-specialty outpatient clinics
• Professional practices

Graduates can carry out study and research, teaching and support activities in all activities in which specific professionalism is required, including on a freelance basis. Or they can enter the Master's Degree Program in Rehabilitation Sciences of the Health Professions (Class LM/SNT2).

The course aims to train Assistant Orthoptists of Ophthalmology, who have technical-practical and behavioral knowledge and skills in accordance with the professional profile and code of ethics. 


The graduate will acquire:

• scientific basis and theoretical-practical preparation for the practice of the profession
• autonomy and professional, decision-making and operational responsibility
• ability to interact and collaborate with multiprofessional teams in order to plan and share patient assessment and rehabilitation interventions
• ability to provide ophthalmic care in the operating room
.

Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal and Child Sciences - DINOGMI
Largo Paolo Daneo 3
16132 Genoa

Educational Secretariat
. Ophthalmology Clinic
Viale Benedetto XV 7 - 5th floor
16132 Genoa

1) What job does an Orthoptics and Ophthalmology Assistant graduate do?
. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology is the health professional who, possessing the qualifying university diploma and on doctor's prescription, treats motor and sensory disorders of vision, performs the techniques of instrumental-ophthalmological semeiology, plans and implements rehabilitation programs, according to the specific profile identified by the Ministry of Health Decree No. 743 of September 14, 1994. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology is responsible for the organization, planning and quality of the professional acts carried out within the scope of his or her duties; he or she carries out his or her professional activity in health care facilities, public or private, on a dependent or freelance basis.
 
2) What does a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care not do?
Medical diagnosis and drug prescription.
 
3) What kind of motivations do those who choose to major in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Nursing have?
. The primary objective of the course of study is to train Orthoptists-Assistants in Ophthalmology who have adequate technical-practical and behavioral knowledge and skills to carry out the best professional practice in accordance with the professional profile and code of ethics. Finally, the course aims to prepare professionals capable of carrying out health education interventions aimed at the prevention of amblyopia and certain vision-related disorders, treatment and rehabilitation. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology will need to acquire knowledge (knowing), skills (knowing how to do) and interpersonal skills (knowing how to be). The competencies are particularly important in the diagnostic-therapeutic-rehabilitation pathway of strabismus and amblyopia, in the rehabilitation of patients with reduced vision in developmental, adult and geriatric age, and in patients with visual fatigue syndrome. The course is inspired by the Italian Core Competence for Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology (May 2013) and the guidelines offered for professional practice in Europe by the Orthoptistes de la Communauté Européenne (OCE). Today the core competence of the Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology is primarily rehabilitation: we are the only health professionals recognized as visual rehabilitators.
 
4) Where can I get a job with a degree in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Assisting?
. Graduates in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care can find employment in facilities of the National Health Service (NHS) and Regional Health Service; in private facilities accredited and affiliated with the NHS; in rehabilitation clinics-facilities-centers, in Nursing Homes (RSAs); at home by patients; in medical and/or multi-specialty outpatient clinics; in individual or associated professional practices; in associations and societies with welfare purposes; in service cooperatives; in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); in public or private preventive services; in Scientifically Characterized Hospitalization and Treatment Institutes (IRCCS).
 
5) What types of users does an Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care graduate work with?
. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology is concerned with the prevention, evaluation, and rehabilitation of eye movement and vision disorders. The type of person is varied: from the healthy individual to the individual with health problems of varying complexity. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology can work with individuals of different ages, from newborn to adult: treating disorders that reduce or prevent binocular vision and disorders that cause severe visual impairment, performing instrumental examinations for the diagnosis of eye diseases (tonometry, retinography, visual field, OCT).
 
6) In what public institutions can a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care work?
. In all health care facilities that guarantee the regulations related to the professional profile (NHS and contracted facilities). Graduates in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care can carry out study and research, teaching, and support activities in all activities in which the specific professional profile is required, also on a freelance basis.
 
7) What outlets does an Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Assisting graduate have in the private sector?
. The Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology can work in all health care facilities that guarantee the regulations related to the professional profile (medical and/or multi-specialty outpatient clinics, professional offices).

 
8) What advanced studies can a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care have access to?
. Once a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Assistance has been obtained, it is possible to continue studies in higher education through Master's degree programs in Rehabilitation Health Professions, either by attending first-level Master's degrees (Ophthalmic Surgery Assistance, Coordination Management in Health Professions). After earning the Master's Degree, it is possible to enter second-level Master's or Ph.D. programs.
 
9) How likely is a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care to find employment?
. The chances of finding employment in both the public and private sectors are high.

 
10) What career possibilities does a graduate in Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Care have?
The career of the Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology is developed horizontally with the acquisition of Master's degrees, which increase the specific skills of the professional, but to date do not sanction an advancement of status in terms of salary or career. Through refresher courses, the Orthoptist-Assistant in Ophthalmology can deepen specific areas of specialization. Having achieved adequate professional experience, it is possible to carry out teaching activities aimed at undergraduate students. The career can be developed vertically by becoming a Coordinator of Health Services: in this case, it is necessary to acquire a Master's degree in coordination and participate in the competition for Coordinators. After obtaining the Master's Degree, one can enter the competitions for Managers of the health personnel in the sector.

DINOGMI Teaching Secretariat
. Neurological Clinic
Largo Paolo Daneo 3
16132 Genoa
+39 010 353 7090/7035
didatticadinogmi@unige.it