Anna Phanjakidze
Today, Focused on Friday welcomes Anna Phanjakidze, a recent graduate from optometry school and ranked number one in her class! She is looking forward to the pre-registration year so that she can continue testing eyes for a living. During our conversation, she shared with us what inspired her to study optometry and her experience with Keeler instruments.
Keep your eyes peeled for episode 17!
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How did it go with your final exams?
These are the first in-person exams we had because of COVID, so I didn't know what to expect. But yeah, they went well. We just received the grades literally yesterday and I graduated, which is great! It also gives you the classification and I got first, which was absolutely mind-blowing.
What made you choose optometry?
I kinda always knew that I wanted to be in healthcare; and then I came across this profession of optometry, which was kind of new to me. And the more I learned, it kind of ticked every box and it just felt right, right in that moment.
What made you choose Keeler equipment?
So basically, we have conversations with other students or when we use the tools there, mostly all you hear is two or three companies names and Keeler is always one of them. We've used them at university as well, and I've had firsthand experience with the retinoscope, for example. And also it just felt like obviously it's a very reliable company, they have the guarantees, it has really good student deals. I feel like they are so sophisticated, looks-wise. And so I felt like it's a great company I could trust.
Is there anything you'd change about our equipment?
Honestly, I wouldn't say that there's something missing in Keeler’s products that I've seen in other products at all. So yeah, I think equipment-wise I’m pretty happy with as they are.
What have you enjoyed the most throughout your courses?
There’s so many different bits! All of them has its own benefits. During training I really liked to see myself get more and more skilled in each technique I’d say. The more I practiced, it got better and better. So that felt amazing to me to see myself improve.
What are your next steps?
I'm going to do my pre-registration year and see how it goes. I'm currently preparing for it, have all the documents and things to familiarize myself with, get to know the practices, rules of how they do things, what to call in certain scenarios and so on. So I'm on that right now trying to learn all that. After pre-reg hopefully I'll qualify and then I can test more eyes as a qualified optometrist!
