From the first day of clinic we were taught the importance of communication in the exam room.
As a doctor you must have information from the patient regarding the reason for their visit. They have an eye problem, you have a solution. It is that simple yet so many of us begin to miss the fundamentals of practice. The fundamental of the chief complaint. The space in our minds that the chief complaint resides soon gets filled with staff management issues, patients that can’t see out of their new glasses, the guy in the reception area with the foreign body writhing in pain, the office Facebook page just received a not so positive comment, the 3 y.o. that just threw up in the other exam lane, and the radiologist on the phone reporting that the suspected lesion is a pituitary adenoma. No way could this happen in one day and at one time. For many of you this is a day in the life of an eye doctor. With all of this going on around you it is imperative that you do not miss the chief complaint of the patient right in front of you. When you miss the chief complaint you miss the whole purpose of the visit.
In the midst of all the chaos, the chief complaint remains the secret to a thriving optometry practice. Leave a comment about life as an OD balancing priorities in practice.
