The farther I get in my career the harder it is to face mistakes that I have made. All optometrists make mistakes, the important thing it to learn from those mistakes.
“The hardest thing about being a doctor,” Dr. Karen Delgado said, “is that you learn best from your mistakes, mistakes made on living people.”
All new practicing optometrists face the dilemma of having a head full of knowledge while holding only an empty cup of experience. During the first couple of years we realize practicing optometry is exactly that, practice.
So when you have patients who need contact lenses for the first time, it is second nature to fit them with the latest technology in single use contact lenses. As the years go by the “go to” contact lens becomes the “old” lens as new and improved ones come on the market. This is what begins to separate the quality of care received by patients from different optometry practices, and I would venture to say the dilemma that ophthalmology faces when viewing our profession.
Avoidable Mistakes that optometrists make as time passes.
- Not keeping up with research – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This mantra does not work in optometry because too many patients are breaking down later in life because their optometrist never took the time to actively prevent future problems. Is it OK to not dilate a patient with diabetes because the Optos technology allows for a 200 degree field of view?
- Only fitting patients in contact lenses that the office keeps in stock – This is an easy one to overlook but I have had to humbly order multi-focal contact lenses because the two different companies that I prefer did not have a product that worked for the patient. In the last month, I have had two patients who have been happy because I ordered trials from a company we seldom use because they have a mainstream multi-focal contact lens that other ODs say works.
- Stop asking questions – New ODs are fun to practice with because they have questions and get excited about pathology that we seasoned doctors have seen multiple times. They come and ask us about what we would do in cases and they read about what they experienced in clinic. Too many of us seasoned doctors think that we are supposed to know most everything we encounter in practice by now. Let’s get honest, we need to regularly ask each other dumb questions. When we don’t ask questions patients suffer the most.
Some mistakes are avoidable. Don’t let these keep you from practicing at the highest level. It takes humility and a desire to give great patient care to embrace the above mistakes and not let them define your career.
