SOCIAL

  the way i see it

My Theory of Everything

Be the force that drives patients to your practice

MARC R. BLOOMENSTEIN, O.D, F.A.A.O.

Gravity. Just the thought of the word sounds scientific, mystifying. . .and unavoidable.

Physics was never my strong suit. I can still remember my first-year physics teacher describing mass and acceleration as a property of force. He loved to push objects to demonstrate the “force” needed to move the mass at a specific acceleration.

For me, all I thought was, “May the force be with you!” and how ridiculous he looked in his “purple” (I thought they were blue) overalls, with his frizzy, unkempt hair and white sneakers.

While most of my physics buddy nerds were assiduously writing notes, I was thinking out loud, “Are your overalls blue or purple?” I am not sure whether he ever did answer me, or whether he just went back to pushing his eraser with his force-driven light-sabered finger. I digress.

Gravity and optometry

What does gravity have to do with the practice of optometry? Well, besides the obvious, Fick’s law of diffusion, it has everything to do with optometry!

Gravity, as you well know, is the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass. The degree or intensity of gravity is measured by acceleration.

As optometrists, we are plagued each and every day by one of nature’s essential, yet cruel, tricks. If you don’t believe me, think of the last time you did a binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy and had to look at the inferior aspect. That gravity thing puts some really important findings in places that are hard to reach.

It’s also what causes those bags that our patients are constantly lamenting is killing their game. Whilst most octogenarians are cool with the notion of having bluish water balloons bulging from the undercarriage of their eyes, those of us in other generations are not. Curse you, gravity!

Be the catalyst

Newton’s throbbing noggin is more relative to the notion that everything settles toward the foundation. Gravitational forces will propel happy, enthusiastic and thoughtful patients to your practice. Yet, what is the driving force that creates this acceleration? I believe it is you and me. Optometry. We are the catalyst that enables these gravitational forces to rouse patients into our chairs.

Optometry, as a “physical body-having mass,” needs to lock on to our patients’ consciousness like a beam-attracting force field seen only in “Star Wars.” Gravity gets our patients’ derriere’s into our chairs (or their vision insurance), yet we need to provide the foundation that “attracts” them toward us — and keeps them there. We can do this by providing good clinical care, early diagnosis, preventative medicine and quality service.

Attracting patients

Providing medical services to your patients, educating them about the ocular surface and its almost ubiquitous damage on vision, treating the whole ocular system and your gravitational force will ensure more mass in the waiting room. OM

DR. BLOOMENSTEIN CURRENTLY PRACTICES AT SCHWARTZ LASER EYE CENTER IN SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. HE IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE OPTOMETRIC COUNCIL ON REFRACTIVE TECHNOLOGY. E-MAIL HIM AT MBLOOMENSTEIN@GMAIL.COM OR VISIT TINYURL.COM/OMCOMMENT TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE.