In many practices, eye care professionals (ECPs) look for new and innovative ways to increase productivity and streamline processes that can also provide opportunities for better patient engagement. Likewise, on the staffing end, the backbone of a successful practice is its staff, so it’s key to hire the best candidates, maximize their training, and find ways to motivate the entire optometric team.
Optometric Management recently published an e-book on these practice management topics, featuring insight from CooperVision’s 2023 Best Practices Honorees on the benefits of leveraging scribes in the optometric practice and the secrets of how to recruit, train and motivate staff.
Here are a few highlights:
“Utilizing a scribe has allowed me to give my patients my full attention and to talk through the ‘technical jargon’ a bit more thoroughly while my scribe takes notes,” says Honoree Dr. David Holler of Clarity Vision of Apex in Apex, N.C. “Patients see it as a positive because it gives me a chance to put my entire focus on being a doctor, while leaving the administrative tasks and computer input to my scribe.”
Honoree Dr. Megan Lott of Belle Vue Specialty Eyecare in Hattiesburg, Miss., suggests that ECPs hire for personality, not experience. For example, you can train someone to fit the mold of the position you’re looking to fill, but you can’t train personality— and in such a people-focused profession, characteristics like friendliness, attentiveness, and effective communication are an absolute must, she says.
The e-book also features Honorees Dr. Zachary Holland of the Cornea & Contact Lens Institute of Minnesota (CCLIM) Edina, Minn., Dr. Mary Hoang South Bay Family Eye Long Beach, Calif., and Dr. Janet M. Wilson of Bella Vision Spartanburg, S.C.
You can read the e-book and all the practice management tips here.
