The Official VisionWeb Blog

Whether you’re fresh out of school, an OD with years of experience, or you’re looking for new experiences, having a mentor that you can bounce ideas off of will assist you in your career by helping you discover the tips and tools that will propel you and your optometric practice into the future.

Regardless of your experience in optometry, there’s always a benefit for finding a mentor to help you reach the next level in your career. Below are four reasons to find a mentor.

An optical dispensary in your optometric practice can assist in building revenue for your practice. However, you need more than just frames to run a successful optical dispensary; you need an optician. Unfortunately, along with other roles in your optometric practice, there can be a high turnover rate for opticians.

And, with the added pressure from online frame retailers disrupting your optical dispensing sales, how do you manage when you’re short an optician? This post offers a few options for managing your optical dispensary when you’re short an optician.

Believe it or not, instant messaging features in your optometry software provide a large benefit to the office workflow in your optometric practice. Less formal than email, instant messaging demands quick responses, whereas email or voice messages tend to sit in their respected storage boxes until they are buried or returned.

Below are a few ways instant messaging can improve your practice.

The life of an OD is hectic even when patients aren't undergoing exams. Whether you run a single OD practice, collaborate with multiple ODs in a single location, or fill the need of a retail location, the long hours, working weekends, and unpredictable patient schedule can take a toll on the OD's life, stress levels, and ability to provide unobstructed care.

When running an optometric practice, there are a few strategies that can help take some of the stress off of your day-to-day activities and to make your life easier.

The staff you hire is a reflection of how you deliver care to your community. The wrong hire for any position in your optometric practice can create tension between your staff and your patients. When it comes time to hire an associate OD for your optometric practice, you want to ask thoughtful questions that will ensure that the associate OD will get along with your staff and be committed to giving the patients in your community the best care possible.

Hiring an associate OD may require a few rounds of interviews to feel confident that you’re selecting the best candidate for your patients, practice, and staff. Here are a few questions you could ask during the first round of interviews.