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You Have To Tell Me, What's New?

You can learn a lot about your vision by looking at your practice's recent changes.

FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Jim Thomas

What's new? Well, this year in Optometric Management we're publishing five new columns in the areas of contact lenses, spectacle lenses, dry eye, technology and instrumentation. (Three of the columns appear in this month's issue.) I'd like to go on and impress you with all the wonderful details of these columns — as well as new features and topics explored by our celebrated authors — but let me turn the tables and invite you to “wow” me in return:

What's new in your practice?

Show me where you're headed

Did you hire new staff? That's great news, especially if your new employee is not merely the result of staff turnover, but came from the need to improve the care you deliver. What else have you done to improve the management and finances of your practice?

What about furnishings — any new furniture, displays or decorations for your office? (My daughter wants me to ask if you bought any exotic new fish for the fish tank.) Do the new furnishings make your office a more positive place to work?

Have you upgraded your heating/air conditioning system or your lighting? What about redesigning the landscaping or resurfacing the parking lot. O.K., you may want to wait a month before you tackle gardening or blacktops.

Surely you've acquired or upgraded your diagnostic equipment. And I can't imagine you let a whole year pass without adding information technology, whether it's an electronic health records system, an upgrade or even something as simple as a smart phone-related application.

Certainly, you can tell me about the latest frames in your optical or the newest spectacle lenses that you've prescribed — the ones that amaze patients. And don't stop there: We can spend as much time as you like talking about contact lenses. I'm sure you've found that you can fit more patients than ever before with the new designs and materials available.

Of course, I won't go anywhere until you explain how the new therapies on the market are improving the level of care for your patients.

If you set foot on the exhibit floor of any optometry-related meeting, opened a professional publication or struck up a serious conversation with a colleague, then I'm confident you have a lot to tell me.

The wrong answer

I'm running out of space, so it's time for you to tell me what's new. But don't be too concerned. There's only one wrong answer to this question: “Oh, nothing much.” OM