Taking responsibility

[Mr_Mitchell]

I agree with R. Martellaro that the Rx should have raised some red flags, but at the same time the customer sounds like a flake and frankly I think losing a customer can sometimes be a good thing. Remember, birds of a feather flock together, and the needy, weird, smelly, and/or just plain stupid tend to hang out with like-minded folks. I bank on every customer of this type I run off telling 20 of their friends--that's 20 less idiots I'll have to deal with, 20 less remakes, 20 less chances for me to lose my temper and put a metal PD stick through someone's eye.
If you think losing a customer is always the worst case, ask yourself why some luxury frame lines don't want your business if you don't meet their standards--you ain't worth their time and your dispensary makes their frames look cheap and common.
Same with customers. The fewer oxygen thieves in my office, the better. My normal patients need to breathe.

[Fezz]

I agree with R. Martellaro that the Rx should have raised some red flags, but at the same time the customer sounds like a flake and frankly I think losing a customer can sometimes be a good thing. Remember, birds of a feather flock together, and the needy, weird, smelly, and/or just plain stupid tend to hang out with like-minded folks. I bank on every customer of this type I run off telling 20 of their friends--that's 20 less idiots I'll have to deal with, 20 less remakes, 20 less chances for me to lose my temper and put a metal PD stick through someone's eye.
If you think losing a customer is always the worst case, ask yourself why some luxury frame lines don't want your business if you don't meet their standards--you ain't worth their time and your dispensary makes their frames look cheap and common.
Same with customers. The fewer oxygen thieves in my office, the better. My normal patients need to breathe.

I agree!


:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

[Mr_Mitchell]

I knew we agreed on more than just the fact that beer is the manna of the Gods, Fezz! Hope to meet up one day, I'm really not as much as a jerk as I may sound while typing.

[orangezero]

I would also like to add that perhaps, maybe this was a new staff member filling out the prescription (and doing so incredibly wrong). I think the owner of the office, doctor or otherwise, would like to know if someone had a prescription written so poorly that left the office.

I would be really upset if I found out these sloppy prescriptions had went out my door. I've never liked it when staff fill out prescriptions for patients, for exactly this reason. I'd never allow it in my office, but at the same time I have worked at places where these things are "somewhat" out of the doctors' control. Crazy, but its true.

[Fezz]

I knew we agreed on more than just the fact that beer is the manna of the Gods, Fezz! Hope to meet up one day, I'm really not as much as a jerk as I may sound while typing.

If it involves the nectar of the Gods....I can't wait to hoist one(or four) with you.

:cheers: :D :cheers:

[HarryChiling]

Sounds like it should fall on both necks in this case. It is an opticians job to call the prescriber if the Rx looks suspicious or off from the norm. It is also the doctors responsibility for the written Rx. Maybe the movement from paper charts to a paperless enviornment will one day make this roblem non-existent, but we will have a whole nother set of problems their so I wouldn't hold my breath.

The solution is a no win situtation. I would definately explain to the patient that the Rx was written outside of the norm and lead to confusion which created the mishap. You as the optician were responsible for the fabrication without verification and you should of course apologize for that mishap, but I would also explain the patient that you remakeing them would be your apology and rectification of the mishap. Offer them a percentage discount or a second pair of suns at a discount as a bonus and as a chance to let her/him to see how your service really does exceed the expectation.

Now this part may be a little unconventional, but again both sides are wrong in this case. Call the doctor and see what you can do to get her a free exam or have the cost of the lens applied towards an exam. If the doctor goes for it (highly likely) you end up looking great in the patients eyes, if the doctor doesnt go for it at least you can explain to the patient how you ar willing to stand behind your products and service and let them come to whatever conclusion about their doctors office (unprofessional to cann them unprofessional, but to help them open their eyes is just good business). Good Luck, lick your wounds and don't make the same mistake again.

by the way all Rx's shuld be written

+0.00 +0.00 x 015

should have decimals, should not include degrees symbols in the axis, should have three numbers in the axis, should have + or - included, should be written in a coherent language, if signs differ write it, if BCVa is not 20/20 it would be nice to mention that, if eye is spherical don't just not write the cyl and axis write in sph.

Realistically never going to happen, so opticians that get Rx's that don't follow the norm should verify.

[Nettie]

Recently a patient brought in an rx . OD was written -1.25 +.30 x150.
Now I have had a few Od's actually write an rx like this, one in particular (does it ALL the time), but I figured I better call and double check.
It was supposed to be -1.25 -.50 x 155. Not only had the cyl been written down incorrectly but the axis as well. I say always double check.

[specs4you]

Oh Honey.....this is a subject with us all by the looks of the replies. To answer your question...yes I call the originating office to verify all Rx's that look suspicious even if the handwriting is just a bit sloppy. Also verify any opposite signs. You can call me ultra paranoid as I also get the person's name, date and put the time on the verification. Honestly by doing this I have never been in this situation in 9 yrs. Not that it won't happen tomorrow.

Do we have crazys? Oh man......so many. Desperate attempts for discounts. As the saying goes. "man makes time for what man wants to do". That goes for women too....so there is no excuse for the infamous, I just threw them in the drawer and wore my old glasses because the new ones didn't work. My Dr. always of course remakes, gives discounts etc.
Were it my personal shop.......I am so sick of the lies and shenanagans of the patients in my area that I would be out of business. The moral of the story in my case is that one patient gets away with it and the good news of the "sucker practice", spreads like wildfire. Just like that one patient that you let get the frame def. exchgd due to abuse not manu. def. and they tell seemingly everyone in the practice and suddenly the people you denied in the past come in p'd off and writing letters to the Dr. annonomously.

The important point is that you learned your lesson...if you need one.
That we have all been there or somewhere close.
Sometimes you lose anyways.
Everyone makes mistakes....your Dr. and all of us. So always be paranoid.

Just my 30 cents worth.
Thanks for listening.

[Fezz]

Do we have crazys? Oh man......so many.

You are talking about fellow Optiboarders, right?



;):cheers:;)

[Bezza]

Writing an Rx as +2.5 is not typical. +2.50 is customary, as is +.25 or +0.25. I have a few doctors who write it as +250 and +025; unconventional but does eliminate any concerns with decimal point placement (or they're a tad lazy- like me!)

Any of the above should have been enough to red flag the Rx, but all three at once should have turned on the sirens and blinking lights.

I agree, here in the UK the way an Rx is written is governed by british standards and should always be written to 2 decimal places. So if it isn't written correctly the responsibility is with the dispensing optician to refer to the prescriber and confirm the Rx before doing anything with it.

[1968]

Who's at fault here? What would you all do?

I think there is plenty that could have been done differently by all three parties:

The optometrist should have admitted her mistake to the patient. While apologizing profusely, she should have explained that she would be contacting the optician to arrange to have the job redone at her (the OD) cost. Then, the optometrist should have admitted her mistake to the optician. While apologizing profusely, she should have offered to pay him for the redo and very politely asked for a break on the price.

The patient should have politely contacted the optometrist or the optician (as he initially requested she do) when it was evident to her that this was more than an adaptation issue.

The optician should have followed up with a courtesy call two to four weeks after dispensing the eyeglasses to see how the patient was doing. Doesn't anyone do this anymore? Perhaps the patient did not want to appear confrontational to the optometrist or optician by complaining about her vision through the new eyeglasses. A courtesy call would have caught this problem much earlier.

[Johns]

I think losing a customer can sometimes be a good thing.

I bank on every customer of this type I run off telling 20 of their friends--

You're assuming these people actually have friends...:D

[dweinstein]

The patient came in yesterday surprisingly OK with the entire situation. I replaced the lens for her at no charge. She said she really didn't notice that much of a difference! She said originally it was such an improvement over what she had before that she didn't even notice her right eye was off by two diopters. But do you think the story ends here? No...

So I changed the +2.50 to +0.25 and the patient shows me that the doctor had written out a prescription. AN ENTIRELY NEW PRESCRIPTION THAT INCLUDED A CYL NOW IN THE RIGHT EYE! So when the doctor told me to re-do the Rx over the phone, she failed to tell me that the Rx had changed. Meanwhile, on the prescription the doctor wrote to change OD only. Meanwhile, I noticed the OS and add for both eyes had changed as well. So to review:

1. Dr. writes sloppy Rx in January '06
2. Dr. blames me in March '07
3. Dr. tells me to re-do the lens at no charge
4. I re-do lens in +0.25
5. Dr. doesn't tell me both eyes had actually changed, I don't realize this until patient shows me new written Rx
6. Dr. wrote on prescription "change OD only please" even though both eyes were different

The outcome: Patient is satisfied with the glasses as they are and told me she felt like the doctor messed up twice now (Score 1 for the optician!). She bought another pair of glasses with the new Rx. I gave her $25 off. You think before I do them I should put the patient in a trial frame? Or maybe I should fax the Rx back to the doctor and write, "ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?!?" AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[victor]

I vote for an optometry school with a handwriting class! Even the best O.D.s that I know have the worst handwriting. This is a problem with Physicians as well. Seriously, if you say you are a professional, take the time to learn to write. If you can't write, type. If you can't do either, pick up a shovel and go dig ditches for a living.

[Andrew Weiss]

The outcome: Patient is satisfied with the glasses as they are and told me she felt like the doctor messed up twice now (Score 1 for the optician!). She bought another pair of glasses with the new Rx. I gave her $25 off. You think before I do them I should put the patient in a trial frame? Or maybe I should fax the Rx back to the doctor and write, "ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?!?" AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

First, congratulations on earning the patient's confidence!

If it were my patient, I would trial frame both Rxs -- the "real" old one and the newer one -- and let the patient tell me which is better. If she prefers the newer one, no sweat, make that one up. If she prefers the older one, you could make it up again if NY allows you to duplicate an existing pair of glasses and avoid having to call the doctor again.

BTW, where do you work in NYC? I worked years ago for Page & Smith after Nathan Borokof bought it.

[OpticianMS]

I am in the same building as two OD's and one MD and all of the techs. I can't imagine getting a script right with them not being in the same building.

Ben

[chip anderson]

Ben:
What does the location of the prescriber's office have to do with getting the Rx right?

[OpticianMS]

I mean with all of the problems that seem to happen from the tech scribing the rx all the way to the lab. I could not imagine not being able to walk over and talk to the doctors about it. It would be very time consuming and a headache to have to sit down and call about every RX that posed a question. Thats all.

[orangezero]

I constantly have to ask staff what numbers they are writing down. I think its a human problem as much as it is a doctor specific problem. I agree though, it is just plain stupid to write stuff down that no one else can read, and even more so if the writing is going to be used for a specific purpose such as making glasses or filling a drug prescription.

I can't remember the number of times they yelled at us in school about writing legibly.

one of the big advantages of computerization, despite all the headaches.

[OptiChick21]

Does anyone else have this kind of craziness going on in their office? Do customers not have any responsibility?

LoL yes... we definitely have those patients coming in after wearing their glasses for nearly a year expecting a remake. To me it's no different; if you buy something at the store - clothing for example - and take back a year later (possibly even have been wearing it for a year!) Do you really expect an exchange or refund? Why is optical so different? The rest of the retail world doesnt make exceptions for being "too busy" for years at a time to come back, why should we?
And yes, if you take responsiblity and eat the costs you may make one or two people happy... but honestly I just expect them to run and tell their friends and family that "Hey, you can go see So & So's and if you have any problems they'll take em back, even two years later!" No thanks. This probably ends up costing more money than earning us money. Think about staff horuly wages being paid on wasted time with crazy patients! LOL. :hammer:

[OptiChick21]

one of the big advantages of computerization, despite all the headaches.

Yes, computers may lessen the number of mistakes, but not totally...

We actually only give computerized, printed out RX's at our office, and unfortunately the doctor can still enter the RX in wrong, hit the wrong sign, or forget a decimal point. Printing it out doesnt change that error.

And the other downside is computer program errors. Sometimes our program adds prism to the RX for no known reason, and we've been trying to get that fixed; but eventually decided to just teach our front desk staff what an RX should and should NOT look like!