We don't have to tell you that things don't always go as planned.
It is rare that you get to show up to the office and see a full slate of patients without an employee calling in sick, technology issues rearing their ugly head, or a complicated case delaying your schedule. But occasionally, something arises that throws your entire day off. We are reminded of this on a Saturday morning when we get a text from a referring doctor who is seeing a patient with a retinal detachment. The macula is attached and requires urgent intervention. Vision America's Dr. Dale Brown meets the patient at our Homewood office for evaluation. Here's what we have:
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One of the things that we felt would be good is to share a little more information about some of our doctors. We recently sat down for lunch with Dr. Kristin Madonia and this Q&A was our first attempt at helping you get to know our doctors more.
As you will see below, you never know what you're going to learn when you sit down for a "Get to Know You" session with one of VisionAmerica's doctors. We don't think you'll be disappointed. Check out our first edition of "Get to Know Dr. _____" below. (As we have in the past, we want to continue to share challenging cases that arise in our day-to-day practice. The article below from Dr. Batson is a recap of one of his recent interesting cases.)
If you really think about it, no shows don't only have an impact on the medical industry.
We recently sent out an email entitled, "What Can We Learn from United Airlines Flight 3411?" Yes, the article was written to remind us all of the importance of having compassion for our patients. But the situation on Flight 3411 was created by one consistent theme in the airline industry: Constant no shows. A December 22, 2016, article in the Optometry Timeshighlighted the fact that no industry suffers from no shows quite like that of the airlines. How do they compensate for this? Well, they overbook flights and offer travel vouchers if problems arise. The articles states that, "The airline industry's effective policy to combat no-shows seems to be working, but the tradeoff is an ever-decreasing level of customer satisfaction." In light of recent events, that statement might need to be reevaluated, but the conundrum of no shows and how we should fix them in the world of optometry still exists. The only thing more difficult than solving the no show problem is probably finding accurate statistics on the issue. It is generally agreed upon that the no show rate industry-wide is between 15-30%. At the low end, this would be problematic. At the high end, this would be crippling for a practice. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of our network's approach to no shows, we sent out a poll on the subject. The results were emailed out on Tuesday, May 9th. It wasn't a shock that only one of the poll participants charges no show fees. In case you are wondering, this is Dr. Fred Wallace and Dr. Merin Graves at Wallace Optometry Associates in Bessemer, Alabama. To gain a better understanding of what this looks like on the ground level, we reached out to Dr. Graves and asked a few questions on the topic. Her responses are below. The the image shown above is of a 68-year-old male with superior hemi-retinal vein occlusion and was taken with our Optos ultra-widefield (UWF) Angiography System. Note all of the collaterals throughout the superior retina. Visual Acuity is 20/150. Unfortunately, the right eye is Light Perception from an Ischemic CRVO.
In the past, a photo like this was almost impossible. Imaging the entire retina required moving the camera from this angle to that angle in order to obtain five to seven mapping photos that we would merge together in order to obtain the best possible image of the eye as a whole. This could be challenging and frustrating for both the doctor and the patient. Since adding the Optos California and its UWF imaging capabilities, we have been able to easily increase our views of the retina and decrease patient imaging time. Speaking of the imaging device, Dr. Dale Brown said, "The fluorescein angiography capability of the Optos allows me to see more peripheral retinal nonperfusion and neovascularization than the standard method of angiography." With its use of autofluorescence, ICG and fluorescein angiography, the photos of the eye the Optos California produces are both stunning and revolutionary. The benefits for us, the doctors, are many. Dr. Jeffrey Fuller commented that, "The ability to evaluate the peripheral vasculature has been very helpful in identifying subtle neovascularization and ischemia. This has been useful in patients with PDR, BRVO, and Sickle Cell Retinopathy especially. The camera is very helpful in guiding the placement of the thermal laser into those highly damaged areas of ischemia." |
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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