Dr's Recommending 1 lens only
I have a few Drs in my office only recommending 1 lens to be changed in their eyeglasses when they really both needed change! I have tried explaining to the Drs and Tech why they should not be doing it however they will not stop. I have mentioned they may not have gotten their glasses from us previously, the coating or treatments most likely will not match, Brands of Pals will not match, etc! Does any one have any better ideas to help me stop this.
just sell the pt a PAIR...
They likely have no clue what it takes to make a good, decent, balanced pair of glasses. Educate them.
You'll have a hard time changing any doctor opinions or their actions. Just explain to the patient in depth your concerns. Sometimes educating the patient is all it takes.
They don't really understand the depth of it. Its mostly our MDs and their techs that are the ones doing it. Most of the time I can educated the patient and they do end up with a complete pair but when you have to spend and extra 30-45 minutes waiting for the tech or Dr to come out to talk with the patient because they are older and don't want to hear what we have to say because we are not their DR its taking up a lot of our time. In addition to having new employees who don't know how to handle this its frustrating.
How about you follow their silly rule and then clog their appointment books with non-adapts and complaints?
Sounds like the right answer to me.
To add to what Dr K says here, inform pt's beforehand that there are no free remakes on single lens orders due to reasons: X,Y, & Z. That may also help to change their tune.
Welcome to Optiboard and the club!!!Originally Posted by MJREYES
MD's really don't want to hear it and probably feel that it is your job to do what you're doing however frustrating for you it is. Also, if after 10 minutes I'm not getting through I'd suggest you don't want this person as a patient. Let them get disappointed elsewhere.
"Why are you banging your head against the wall?"
"Because it feels so good when I stop!"
We have both MD's and techs, and sometimes run into this situation. We (the optical manager and myself) provide education seminars for our techs several times a year to educate them on different subjects, such as this. It really helps to have that communication with them. The MD's are another story. Unless they have a specific experience with something, that is the only time they're on board and preselling for us. The latest example was moisture chambers. I'm still trying to locate a provider of the material to meet the demand of patients they're sending to us.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
I have had a problem like that. It was more of an issue with writting MED NEC on an RX or that transition was a MED NEC but the patient insurance not covering it. The patient was told by the Dr it would be covered by my insurance. Now they might write it on the RX but they tell the patient to talk to me about what is covered and what is not.
Some of the single lens only Rxs that I recieve have enough change in the fellow eye to justify an OU lens replacement. Use a trial frame to help determine the degree of improvement, if any. Folks with healthy eyes will appreciate small changes in refraction more than those who have reduced BCVAs. Visually active clients, those who frequently drive at night, avid readers, will benefit more from small changes in refraction than less active clients. Changes that have unequal sphere equivalents should generally be given more weight than when equal, primarily for the best binocular balance.
Inspect the fellow lens for surface degradation; a mildly degraded surface that is three years old will continue to degrade, maybe at an accelerated pace, and start to interfere with the vision in short order. Look at the frame condition and age; a three year old frame that is clearly showing signs of wear, or has had one or two significant realignments, is unlikely to survive until the next expected Rx change. From my experience, the average lifespan of a well made frame that has received good care is about 4 to 5 years. Does the client have a spare pair? Is it serviceable, and are they comfortable enough to wear until they can acquire a replacement pair when their primary pair fails?
Other factors may come into play, financial, physical and mental health, inability to ID the lens design, Rx dependance, and so on, so look at the big picture, and make a justified recommendation based on the facts, your experience, and is in your client's best interest.
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. - Richard P. Feynman
Experience is the hardest teacher. She gives the test before the lesson.
All of the preceding arguments, while valid, can be trumped by five words, "Do as you are told." Unless you have the responsibility or ownership of the business you might want to just follow the directions of your superiors, without question, and let the chips fall where they may.
If you have a disagreement with your present management you might just want to find another position that will appreciate you skills thereby avoiding the mental anguish and peristalsis of trying to urinate into the wind.
Its difficult to deal with educated ignorance. Worked with an MD that didn't even know what an Office type lens was. Furious when I sold when to a patient. I know your pain.
If you want to sell an idea, sell it to something they know first hand. If they buy tires, ask why they bought 4 and not 1. When they change Contacts, do they keep 1 eye in the old brand?
Progressives are impossible to do well when you don't do both eyes, many progressives calculate for ideal binocular symmetry knowing the powers of both OS and OD.
Or like Dick said, you can quit. Its what I had to do once.
Some great posts in this thread.
love it, fight fire with fire.
hit them where it hurts, their wallet.
take the order as is, complete it, and then make a fine tuned effort
I have to second rbakers argument. That is an age old bi...ch in the optical retail to just push for a better and more costly sale. In a case like that the refracting doctor finds a small change in one eye only and prescribes the cure for it.
If you are that eager to sell a new pair, take the order as is, complete it, and then make a fine tuned effort to talk customers into a new pair. That would be proper salesmanship.
I think some here, and some patients, are taking the words of the doctor too literally. Invariably, patients ask, "did my prescription change? " so, you tell the truth. "your prescription has changed in one eye"... which happens often enough. But that is not necessarily an instruction to go and buy only one lens. And if the patient conveys that to you, and you truly have concerns about AR finishes, progressive type, base curves, etc., then it is your professional responsibility to explain the situation.
They hired you for a reason. The best OD, MD are the ones that say that the optician is the expert on that and can go over with you if you can replace only one lens or a pair. It passes the authority onto you. This way you can...check condition of frame, check insurance, check lens types and coatings and tell they patient if the can indeed just replace one lens. We do that here. Sometimes one lens is not a problem at all. Sometimes it is. I don't make eye health recommendations. I send the patient to the dr to have those questions answered. I expect the same when it comes to specs. It's ok for the Dr to tell them they only have a change in one eye, but they need to discuss with the optician if only one lens can be replaced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjlgUx7_aN0
Uncle Fester, this is why I am banging my head!
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