By Dr. Rod Nowakowski Director of Genetic and Advanced Diagnostic Evidence for the value of electrophysiological testing in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma continues to evolve and accumulate. I recently lectured on electrophysiology, including applications to glaucoma, at SECO and there was considerable audience interest and interaction that prompted this newsletter. Three electrophysiology tests can add additional evidence helpful in the clinical diagnosis of glaucoma and may detect functional change that significantly precedes structural change. This is important since, up to a point, functional loss from "sick" cells may be slowed or reversed whereas structural change suggests cell death that is not reversible. Given that, a functional measure may present an opportunity for early diagnosis and hence, early intervention. We know early intervention makes a difference from the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial (EMGT).
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4/25/2018 0 Comments The Pursuit of Higher Standards - Lessons from Amazon's Annual Shareholder LetterHere they go! They are talking about Amazon again!
Yep. We sure are. Why? Because as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos noted in his annual shareholder letter, his company just:
How is that possible? How does a company with 560,000 employees stay laser-focused and rise both on Wall Street and in customer satisfaction polls? 4/23/2018 0 Comments A Few Facts About GeneticsAs we celebrate DNA Day 2018 tomorrow, we thought we would provide a few quick facts that you might want to share with your patients. (Click here to read our Guide to DNA DAY!)
Genetic disorders, diseases caused in whole or in part by a change in the DNA sequence away from the normal sequence, affect over 30 million people in the United States alone. That is 10% of the population! by Paul Batson, O.D. Center Director VisionAmerica of Birmingham What was the post-op refraction of the first IOL patient implanted by Sir Harold Ridley in 1949? His second patient wasn't much better at -15 but then things started improving as they modified the lens design. Although he continued with his work, Ridley was ostracized by many throughout the ophthalmology community for years. It's hard to believe that it wasn't until the mid-1980's that he began to receive the recognition he deserved for his accomplishments and IOL implantation after cataract extraction really started to gain acceptance. He was eventually knighted by the Queen of England in 2000 not long before his death in 2001. It's hard to believe how far we have come in that short time. I just finished attending the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. I've come to really enjoy this meeting as an opportunity to gain a wealth of information about the current and future trends of cataract and refractive surgery (as well as glaucoma). "Time is money."
"Work smarter, not harder." How many times have you heard a helpful little quote on time? But you know the problem with advice on time, right? It doesn't work! You know that you should work smarter. You know that wasted time in your practice is wasted money. Yet the clock is still your biggest enemy. The only quote on time you truly believe is, "There's just not enough time in the day..." Don't worry. We aren't offering you any silver bullets on time management today. We want to tell you what you already know (That time management is hard.) and start a conversation about how we can try to rein in our schedules for the sake of a more enjoyable career. So here we go! A few short and admittedly oversimplified thoughts on how we can better manage our time. 4/12/2018 0 Comments April Photo of the MonthA 62-year-old male referred for acute onset of "tunnel vision" in the right eye. Color, Red Free and Fluorescein Angiogram of Central Retinal Artery Occlusion with partial macular sparing from the cilioretinal artery.
Photos by Frank Brower, VisionAmerica Angiographer 4/10/2018 0 Comments Getting to Know Dr. Jill HeltonWe have learned over the past year that we never know what we are going to learn when we sit down for a "Get to Know" interview with a member of the VisionAmerica team. Well, Dr. Jill Helton certainly didn't disappoint. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did! Where did you grow up? I grew up just outside of Gadsden, Alabama in Rainbow City. As a child, what were your hobbies? I tried to play softball, but that did not work out well (laughs). What position did you play? I played right field. It was church league softball, but yeah… it was not my forte. And where did you go to college, optometry school, etc.? I went to college at South Alabama in Mobile and then went to optometry school at UAB. I was actually in the same class as Paul Batson, and several other OD’s in town. Shout out to the class of 1998! After graduating from UAB, I did my residency at VisionAmerica’s Nashville office and was then offered a position as a staff optometrist here in Birmingham. Since then, I think I have worked at most of our offices, at least briefly. So this is basically the only job you’ve ever had? Yes. In my chosen career, this is it. I have been very fortunate. Did you work any growing up? I babysat the same children for years and years, which was great. Then I was a cashier at Wal-Mart for two summers. National DNA Day was created to commemorate the completion of the Human Genome Project in April of 2003 and the discovery of the double helix in 1953.
Its goal is to celebrate and educate the public on past and current advancements in the field of genetics and genomics. Over the last century, some of science's most significant breakthroughs have come within these fields. In the 20th Century alone, the leap was made from Sir Archibald Edward Garrod's initial discovery of recessive inheritance in humans in 1902 to the aforementioned Human Genome Project. Our third annual VisionAmerica Summer Conference is just around the corner!
We will once again be gathering at the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel and Conference Center at Capitol Hill on Friday and Saturday, August 10th and 11th, for two days of continuing education and networking. Much like last year, we will be offering separate sessions for doctors, technicians and office managers or those in leadership positions. If you haven't attended in the past, we truly hope you consider joining us this year! Check out some of the comments left from last year's attendees below! "Enjoyed the program. Great mix of topics and lectures." "Great speakers, food, and entertainment." "Thank you for providing pertinent, clinically relevant, interesting, and affordable CE. Much appreciated!" "Quickly becoming my favorite CE meeting." We will be releasing more details about the agenda in the upcoming weeks including speakers and CE topics but wanted to go ahead and give you a heads up on the dates. If you have any questions regarding the conference, please reply directly to this email. We look forward to seeing you all there! |
AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
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