Firstly, welcome to Harvard Eye Associates! We are truly happy that you are here, and if so, understand that we have carefully selected you out of many other candidates, so be proud of this!

We want to make your time with us as welcoming as possible, but also start you off right and give you some insight as what to expect on your journey here

We operate a bit different than many of the other ophthalmology practices out there, as we train our employees to have a mindset akin to one of our doctors. Medical providers do not just act like mindless robots that carry out tasks without critical thinking. They must be able to think on their feet and address every patient's concerns singularly, and adapt to every situation at hand

Remember that your journey in medicine will not be easy, but you will learn valuable knowledge and skills here that will make this journey much easier and will stay with you for the rest of your career, 

Understand that there is a lot to learn  here at HEA and we have much to teach you. Try not to get overwhelmed! The more you learn now, the easier things will be later as you will already have an excellent fund of knowledge on many topics in medicine

The more you learn now is the less you will have to learn down the road, so please invest your time and learn as much as possible!

Mistakes will happen! Just learn from them and everyday try to do a little better than you did the day before!

Always address patients by their last name and say "Mr." or "Mrs.", unless otherwise specified. If a patient asks you to refer them as "Bobby" as opposed to Robert, this is OK

Please do not call a patient from the front or for testing and say "Luke". Always address him as "Mr. Skywalker"

Be aware if they are an MD as we usually write "Dr" or "MD" next to their last name on the fee ticket. Some doctors will get offended if you do not address them as "Doctor"

ALWAYS confirm the date of birth with the patient at all times when calling their names (from the front, for diagnostic testing, or when rooming them)

Do not just say "is your date of birth XX/XX/XXXX?". Our patients are usually elderly and/or hard of hearing, so they could just nod their head "yes" without actually hearing you (and then you do a test on the wrong patient, or room the wrong patient for one of our providers..........). 

Ask them "please confirm your date of birth" as a way to get them to say it to you, rather than just nod their head yes

This is the easiest way to avoid a catastrophic mistake, such as doing a test on the wrong patient, or calling the wrong patient from the front for an exam. If this happens, the amount of time and effort to correct the mistake is huge, and our providers (as well as the patient) will become upset and lose some trust in us

Please always be friendly and understanding when speaking with our patients

Please greet them and always introduce yourself

Please always wear your name badge. It is important to identify yourself as an employee of HEA, and also so that our employees (and providers) know who you are.

Please refrain from being on your phone during business hours. This gives a very poor impression to our patients and providers 

Please adhere to our dress code at all times (black or grey scrubs only). Jackets are fine, but must be plain black medical ones and please make sure it is not oversized and there are no logos or stripes on it. Please never wear a hoodie sweatshirt, a puffer jacket, or a jacket with a hood as you will be asked to remove it immediately!

Please also refrain from doing schoolwork or working on applications for grad school during business hours. This will need to be done during your lunch or after working hours 

Our patients are almost exclusively elderly and are often times heard of hearing. Please make sure you speak in a firmer tone of voice so they can hear you, but not firm enough that they interpret it as yelling at them

Many of our patients use walkers and canes to get around. In an office as large as Laguna Hills, please make sure you walk at their pace and not leave them behind in our long hallways. It is also important to be by their side in case they become unsteady or even fall!

Many of our patient are anxious and can be viewed as "germophobic", especially after the COVID years. Some patient have good reason to be, as they are elderly and/or immunocompromised in some form. If they ask you to put on gloves or to sanitize their hands prior to interacting with them, please oblige and do so. We have gloves and sanitizer everywhere in the office.

Naturally, some of our patient can be inquisitive about things during an exam or testing and they will ask questions. Below are some guidelines on how to respond

Never make a diagnosis for a patient!!! (See below)

Patients can ask you to interpret images for them while at the OCT/Optos. Please tell the patient that we cannot interpret the images and this will be done by the provider. 

Sometimes they can push a little and say "oh, come on, just tell me how they look. No one else has to know". You can tell them that the quality of the image was good, but the image will have to be interpreted by our providers. 

Often times patient ask "what kind of training is required to do your job"? You can tell them that there is a rigorous training program at HEA and also can become a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA)

In an exam room, patients will sometimes ask your opinion as to what you think is going on with them. Please explain to them that your job is to get you prepped for our providers to make the diagnosis, and that they would rather have the providers opinions anyways, rather than theirs, as our providers went throughout all the schooling and are board certified to do this. 

While doing testing, patients can sometimes say that "I just had this test done last week and why are we doing it again"? Sometimes patients get confused as our machines look similar. Some of our machines can do multiple types of testing on the same machine and they are getting a different type of scan on the same machine.  Some of our providers need tests done again to track progress of their condition, even if only a day or two apart

Patients can also ask "why are we doing this test?" and/or "is my insurance going to cover this?".  Tell them that when the doctor orders a test to be done, we do the test and don't question why and we do the test as ordered by the MD/OD. If they have any questions about insurance covering the test, then they can speak with the front desk. 

Always remember that it is Ok to tell a patient that you do not know! They cannot assume you have the same level of knowledge as our doctors, so if you don't have an answer to their questions, tell them "I'm not sure, but I can find out" or "I'm not sure, but our providers will have all the answers to your questions". 

You are under no obligation to answer a patient's personal questions about yourself.  Feel free to politely decline to answer any questions you are not comfortable with. These can include: