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The Best of Lessons Learned

We take a look back at the column that has graced OM for 29 years

JACK RUNNINGER, O.D.

Beginning this month, Optometric Management is proud to present “The Best of Lessons Learned.” Dr. Jack Runninger’s “Lessons Learned” column began its run in OM in 1981. (Dr. Runninger has written in some optometric journal every month for 41 years.) The following column is an abridged version of “Lessons” from the July 1996 issue of OM. It was originally titled, “Setting Your Patients at Ease.”

Dr. Murray Klaff once told me how he greets his first patient each morning. “What a great way to start the day!” he says.

You undoubtedly have your own methods of putting patients at ease — and showing them how much you enjoy working with them. I’ve always found that a little levity and kidding seems to help build good patient rapport.

Here are a few suggestions that other doctors and I have found effective.

Taking notes

► “I make a note of my patients’ interests on their records,” one optometrist told me. “When a patient returns, I can look at her record and remind myself of what those interests were. I can ask, ‘Are you still doing needlepoint?’ Or, ‘Has your daughter finished medical school?’ Invariably, the patient is always impressed.”

This follows Dale Carnegie’s thoughts. “Talk to people in terms of their interests, rather than your own,” he said. “When you go fishing, you bait your hook with worms, not strawberries.”

Ageless compliments

► “That’s great! You just read the 20/20 line on the chart. That’s normal for a 20-year-old,” you can say to a 75-year-old patient. Now that I have passed the 75-year mark, I can tell you that any comment that favorably compares me to a 20-year-old is greatly appreciated.

► At the opposite end of the age spectrum, you can also deliver age-related compliments: “Even though your child is only six years old, she does a better job of understanding and answering my test questions than many eight-year-olds.” Both parent and child beam when you deliver this line.

► For patients who do well on subjective tests, I tell them, “I wish all patients answered my exam questions as well and as perceptively as you did.”

► Be aware that compliments, much like jokes, can backfire. “You sure don’t look two years older than when I last saw you,” I once told a contemporary.

“You do,” replied the wiseacre.

Patients and staff notice

We always tried to promote a happy atmosphere in my office. “What impresses me most about your office is that you all seem to have such a good time,” an O.D. who interned with me once said.

The happy atmosphere did not go unnoticed by patients.

“I wish my dentist, doctor and you hadn’t retired,” a woman recently told me. “My new doctors all seem so serious and self-important. I just don’t feel as at ease with them as I did with you.”

You’ll have a better and happier practice if you’ll spend just a little time making your patients feel at ease. OM

JACK RUNNINGER, OUR CONSULTING EDITOR, LIVES IN ROME, GA. HE’S ALSO A PAST EDITOR OF OM. CONTACT HIM AT RUNNINGERJ@COMCAST.NET.