Embedded Files
Page 5
REFRACTIONIST OR DOCTOR? • A new world of vision testing and eye wear sales is dawning now that refractions and prescription fulfillment are being offered online. • These developments may not be a negative for ophthalmology practices and patients. • Optometrists: Expand your scope of patient care services to protect your future! • The AOA is aggressively fighting for optometry: Join the AOA! » Visibly » EyeNetra » MyVisionPod » Myeyelab.com » Smart Vision Labs » Vmax Vision » Warby Parker If you want to insulate your practice from the threat of online refraction services, evolve to a medical foundation. SECTION I: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS REVIEW OF OPTOMETRY JUNE 15, 2020 5 Optometry “On Call”: A Not-So-Novel Concept As we all know, eye care provided by anyone outside of optometry or ophthalmology is abysmal. Whether one practices in a group, private practice, a retail/commercial setting or in any other setting, there should be one uncompromising goal: providing optometric patient access to optometric care 24/7. First, it is the rare individual who enjoys being “on call.” It is encumbering, but the cases are usually stimulating and can stretch your clinical confidence. It is our collective perspective that patients should have access to emergency medical optometric care whenever the need arises. When a patient calls her or his optometrist, there should be an answering machine/service guidance as to how to contact the optometrist on call! Here we share a parallel example of how many dental practices meet the needs of their patients: six to eight dentists come together and form a call group, such that a single dentist is on call for the group every six to eight weeks. By spreading the responsibility, they move from being “always on call” (which, in reality, we all are), to being on call only every six or eight weeks. With this shared call system, emergency patients always have ready access to a dentist. If we had a dental emergency, called our dentists and the answering machine said “Our office is now closed,” or if we were directed to contact an emergency department/ urgent care, the three of us would be finding other dentists! We urge our optometric colleagues to become proactive in a like manner—that is, form such a call group with your colleagues to provide emergency patient care. To allow your office phone to simply ring and ring after hours is completely irresponsible; instructing your afterhours answering service to direct the caller to an emergency department or urgent care center is even worse. We are a healthcare profession, doctors, and our collective patients deserve to be seen by an optometrist when an ocular emergency arises, no matter the time of day or night. For perspective, the vast majority of these calls can be dealt with by phone; only rarely is there a need to meet the patient in the office in the middle of the night. Most emergencies can wait until office hours to be seen. Let’s understand our role as a patient caregiver, and develop a creative, collaborative system to meet our patients’ after-hours emergency medical needs. We would want nothing less for ourselves! It’s commonplace in other fields, yet somewhat rare in our profession. Patients who need urgent care deserve the attention and expertise that ODs can provide. (Practice Name) (Practice Phone Number) Vision Source supports its members by offering this promotional flyer on the vital emergency care ODs provide. STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS 6 REVIEW OF OPTOMETRY JUNE 15, 2020 Ophthalmologic Perspective on Emergency Eye Care Now that more and more eye surgeons have (or have access to) outpatient surgery centers, and use those rather than hospital operating rooms, there is a shrinking need for such surgeons to serve on-call for hospital emergency departments. This leaves a vacuum relative to emergency eye care. An article in EyeNet magazine (December 2019) shed light on the matter: “If ophthalmologists continue removing themselves from emergency medicine and remain unwilling to provide care outside of their offices […] it is only creating a void that others will be more than happy to fill.”
Google Sites
Report abuse