SOCIAL

  THE WAY I SEE IT

SAMPLE AWAY FROM THE LANE

DO NOT TREAT PRESCRIPTIONS LIKE A TASTING MENU FOR PATIENTS

MARC BLOOMENSTEIN, O.D., M.B.A.

AS I GET older, I realize the little things are what I get most excited about. For example, a new Costco just opened a couple miles from my house. You know what that means… Hello?! Sample time — only walking distance away!

I love the free samples at Costco. Granted they are mostly food items I would never buy or for that matter ever eat if they weren’t a free serving so graciously offered to me by a hair net-wearing octogenarian. Yet, when something is given to me, I take it, whether I think I might like it or not. If I don’t like it, I place it in the next cylindrical filing cabinet I pass. How great would it be if there were an amuse bouche (for my non-Food Network-watching doctors: a small taste before the meal) of all the items on a menu at a new restaurant?

MATTER OF CHOICE?

Sampling works great for decisions that are egocentric, such as music or ice-cream. There is no harm in spending as much time as you want deciding on your flavor of ice cream or, better yet, listening to the live version of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ new song “Downtown” before you spend the $1.29 to download it (only to realize it ain’t no “Can’t Hold Us”).

Where sampling does not work is in our lanes. A sample is paramount to giving your patient a choice as to whether he or she needs the medication you are giving him or her. What options does your patient have? “Would you like to try some of that fluoroquinolone I just told you you need to use to get rid of that infection?” or “Perhaps you don’t like this maroon box? Would you prefer blue?”

In a restaurant, I don’t ask the server, “What’s good?,” I have no idea what he thinks is good. And trusting in someone else’s opinion, who is not an expert on the subject matter — which in this case is me — is not an option. A sample allows me to decide. (Thanks for the deep crispy kale topped with offal; I will stick with the rib eye.)

Some of you will give a sample and also write a prescription. You might as well book your patients for a gig at the Rio in Vegas, because they’ll suddenly transform themselves into “Penn & Teller” (yes, both of them) and make that sample magically last as long as the prescribed treatment. And when you question them about it, they are strong in their conviction that your “Everlasting Gobstopper antibiotic” made it all the way through your prescribed treatment regiment.

ISSUE EXPERTISE

You’re the expert; the treatment plan is not a point to debate and it should be taken as instructed by the doctor. When we write a prescription we are telling our patient, “This is not an option. My prescription, when followed, will make your eye problem better or at least prevent it from getting worse.”

Our O.D. brethren worked hard to establish our right to prescribe. Why do we want to just give it away? I mean literally? “Thank you sir, may I have some more?” #SayNoToSamplesSayYesToScripts, #ReadMoreBloomenstein #ICanKeepGoing… 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. Email him at mbloomenstein@gmail.com, or visit tinyurl.com/OMcomment to comment on this article.