CLINICAL

  diversify your portfolio

Diversify Your Knowledge

Three reasons to take CE outside your comfort zone

JEFFRY D. GERSON, O.D., F.A.A.O.

How many times have you found yourself during a CE course thinking, “This sounds familiar.” Here’s the deal: If you always seek courses that have similar content or the same lecturer, this will happen. So, why not take the opportunity to learn about areas with which you’re not familiar?

Here are three reasons you should broaden your educational horizon.

1 It reinvigorates your fervor for the profession

Before I attend a meeting or trade show, I often look on the event’s “grid” for courses that will be familiar and comfortable for me. These are courses that I think won’t be overly challenging to listen to and learn from. However, at least one event per year, I try to find courses outside my comfort zone and beyond what I may or think I know. In doing so, I sometimes discover that there is much more to optometry than what I am aware of or practice, making me realize that it is a diverse occupation with several ways to help people.

Specifically, I have listened to some fantastic speakers teach about brain injuries, neuroophthalmic conditions and specialty contact lenses, among other facets of optometry that are not a part of my everyday practice. These speakers inspire me to learn more and think about how these areas could be integrated into my practice.

2 It better prepares you for patients

In addition to enabling me to maintain my excitement for optometry, challenging myself to learn something completely new prepares me for patients who present with the conditions I learn about. This has happened quite a bit, and I find that I am able to help them with something that was previously foreign to me. Sometimes, just a small tidbit of knowledge picked up during one of these educational opportunities helps me to impress or better care for a patient. That patient, in turn, then recommends me to others because I was prepared to meet his or her needs.

Also, just because I don’t know about something doesn’t mean I won’t have patients who need information on that topic. Thus, the more I know about topics outside my comfort zone, the more I am prepared to answer my patients’ questions, once again reassuring them that I am the best eyecare practitioner in the area.

3 It enables you to enhance practice management

Of course, taking unfamiliar CE courses has also enabled me to learn about new ways of efficiently managing my practice. Even the things I do every day have been enhanced by diversifying how I do them. One example of this is classifying expenses. By doing extra things for patients buying glasses, like providing a fancy bag or chocolate with their new glasses, we are marketing outside the box. These don’t have to be optical “expenses” or “cost of goods,” but marketing campaigns and ways to surprise and impress patients.

Accepting the CE challenge

We have so many fantastic opportunities at all the different CE venues that we can take advantage of. So the next time you find yourself mapping out your CE at a meeting or trade show, I challenge you to think outside the box and learn about something that you DON’T know about. You’ll be glad you did. OM

DR. GERSON PRACTICES AT GRIN EYECARE IN OLATHE, KAN., A FULL-SCOPE COMBINED O.D./M.D. PRACTICE. E-MAIL HIM AT JGERSON@HOTMAIL.COM. TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE, E-MAIL OPTOMETRICMANAGEMENT@GMAIL.COM.