Presentation Logistic support for the Behavioral optometrist.

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1 Presentation Logistic support for the Behavioral optometrist. Group vs. one-on-one VT. Both types of VT can be successful? Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO Lecture / written text / differences may appear during the lecture icbo April 9, 2010 Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM

2 Contents Presentation! 2 Introduction 2 Group versus one-on one VT & Home VT versus in-office 2 LOGISTIC SUPPORT FOR THE BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRIST 3 Why offer VT in your practice? 3 To whom do you offer VT? 3 Why offer Syntonic Optometry in your optometric studio? 3 How to motivate your patient to begin with some form of eye training? 4 Which agreements to reach with yourself at the start of the VT program? 4 Which clear agreements to reach with your patient? 4 Offering your patient a proper after-service can add greatly to a favourable development of your practice! 5 The financial aspect of the eye care services! 6 Conclusion 6 Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM

Presentation Logistic support for the Behavioral optometrist. Group vs. one-on-one VT. Both types of VT can be successful? INTRODUCTION Different types of VT can be successful?

3 Presentation Logistic support for the Behavioral optometrist. Group vs. one-on-one VT. Both types of VT can be successful? INTRODUCTION Different types of VT can be successful? Thanks to many years of experience in VT and Behavioral Optometry, I have met a lot of fellow Optometrists. Mainly in the beginning of my career we motivated each other to develop this fascinating science in our Optometric practices and we discussed what type of VT would function the best; group versus one-on-one therapy and home based therapy versus in-office only. After many years of practice, I developed a strong desire to persuade other Optometrists to go deeper in this matter, resulting in... I know many colleagues who set up a wonderful practice. In short, the means and motivation to provide quality eye care were there. But sadly, a lot of these optometrists did not succeed in making their optometric practice a lucrative business, which eventually forced them to put a stop to it. Unfortunately we cannot deny that money is a necessary evil, even though we would be perfectly satisfied with idealism we got from our profession. For that reason I would like to give you some guidelines that could help developing a well running practice. Group versus one-on one VT & Home VT versus in-office Yes we ve tried it all, with and without success. You can ask yourself the question why did or didn t it work? Was it my success or mistake, did I put the patient in the correct or wrong group, or which kind of therapy is the type for me as optometrist? I think you have look which kind of therapy can give the perfect winning team. And the moment you have found the solution, it doesn t matter if it is in group or individual or home or office VT. First of all, you have to make some goals for your practice, your patients and for yourself. If you reach balance and harmony, then you ve established the main goals which will lead to success. Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM 2

4 LOGISTIC SUPPORT FOR THE BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRIST Different types of VT can be successful? Why offer VT in your practice? As an optician-optometrist you frequently come across with different types of visual problems. Through experience however you are able to make an immediate distinction between functional and non-functional eye-care problems. At that moment you should act as a Behavioral Optometrist. Offering eye-care services will contribute to the image of your business in a favourable way. As a professional, this speciality will give you a sense of satisfaction. What is more beautiful than being being able to help people which traditional medicine considered as hopeless cases? To whom do you offer VT? The people that come to your practice suffer from certain conditions and deserve the necessary attention. Every problem has a cause and you should be able to apply your knowledge to find a solution. Thanks to the OEP 21 points and other testing procedures, we all are able to distinguish the real lost cases from the functional visual problems. And let us be honest, we do not come across that many lost cases among the people that come to us. This becomes more understandable if we keep in mind that the eye is a sense, controlled by the Autonomous Nervous System and the brain. We can get both control units, very sensitive to stress, under control through techniques. So in short, there s a lot of work to do. Often our task is to pick up the pieces of former specialists. Why offer Syntonic Optometry in your optometric studio? As Behavioral Optometrists, we can consider ourselves lucky that our profession has so many aspects. Since we are dealing with the most important sense of our system, we are, thanks to our speciality, able to mould everyone s perception system, based on experience and environment, into a well functioning system, when the absorbing and processing of information appears to be running on a low level. In other words, the observation process that controls the way we deal with information, can be adjusted and improved at any time. It is particularly of high importance of high importance to convert incoming stress stimuli to useful energy. This brings us to the appliance of light therapy, called Syntonic Optometry (Syntonic phototherapy). Many studies, and not only the development-optometric reference works, demonstrate the favourable influence of different wavelengths of the visible band on specific parts of the brain. For this purpose, a punctual measuring instrument exists, which offers us the possibility to obtain the correct data reflecting the working of the visual system and the processing of it in the brain. Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM 3

5 When we can conclude, on the basis of the patient s complete visual profile, that VT is insufficient to eliminate the existing symptoms, we begin with Syntonic Optometry therapy. The purpose of this therapy is to rebalance the sympathetic - parasympathetic nervous system unbalance. This is a one-on-one therapy and home and office based therapy, cause the patient has to dispose of an efficiently developed training device and optometrical follow-up. How to motivate your patient to begin with some form of eye training? Disposing of the right knowledge and applying this on a patient s problem is one thing. Conveying in clear colloquial language which gaps, being an underlying cause of his symptoms, were found during the examination is another... Very often it is not easy to point people to their shortcomings when they are not aware of them. Thus, the message is to communicate with your patient on the right wavelength. The next step is to convince him/her of optometry as the solution to their problems. Put yourself in the place of your patient and be aware of the fact that he/she is a layman in this matter. This will all be new information to him/her, so try to explain the visual training and /or light therapy you suggest in a clear but efficient matter. Obviously you cannot give them any guarantees, but outline clearly what such training package consists of, how it usually works and what expectations it can meet. Which agreements to reach with yourself at the start of the VT program? This part may seem rash and useless at first. Nevertheless, there is more to be found here than you can think! Giving the best of yourself during the VT period with your patients seems logical. But to me it is not that obvious, it does not always turn out the way you had planned it. When reading the following points, try to make out for yourself whether you really answer to the profile of the ideal coach:. Keep in mind that everyone is different and that you have to adjust yourself to the client.. As a coach you aim for certain principles, but be of principle to yourself as well.. In case your patient has a difficult moment during the VT course, be understanding and try to find a proper way together to continue with the course.. In case your patient does not take the therapy serious, do not give up on him/her immediately. Perhaps some more motivation and encouragement is the best solution here.. Consider every therapy equally important and do not distinguish between your different patients.. Logically you will like some patients more than certain others, but nonetheless try to create a certain relationship with each patient. This will make training more pleasant and it will definitely help in getting good results. In addition, a satisfied client will make good publicity! Which clear agreements to reach with your patient? In case you have followed a certain training yourself once, you will certainly know it is not always simple to stay motivated. If you have no experience in this yet, you can be sure of it. Discipline is the Keyword here.. Try to convince your patient of this, without giving him/her a feeling of being drilled. Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM 4

6 . Teach him/her to find the necessary discipline each time, so as to bring the therapy to a good end.. Make sure your patient understands that he/she will have to train consistently so that the therapy procedures have the desired results, and make it clear to him/her that only a regular home training - office training can lead to an integrative success.. Your patient has to realize that the necessary time is being reserved for him/her and that carelessness with regard to the office or home training will not be tolerated. Clear agreements on this subject are sincerely necessary. It is quite often a loss-making aspect when patients are either not present on the fixed date or when they cancel their appointment on the last moment. You need to deal firmly with this and demand a certain sum to recuperate the reserved time. If you enclose this in black and white in your house rules, people cannot feel indignant about it afterwards.. Inform your patient also very clearly about the duration of each therapy. People sometimes consider themselves as your only patient and take up too much time, resulting in your schedule going off the rails. The next client waiting for his turn does not usually appreciate this. Perhaps you have not given it much thought yet, but your wages may suffer as well.. The manner and frequency of payment are to be fixed in advance in your house rules as well, so that the client is clearly informed. Clients that make their payments too late or not at all can affect your financial situation as well as your morale. This has to be prevented at all cost, for a displeased optometrist will lose his motivation and idealism. Offering your patient a proper after-service can add greatly to a favourable development of your practice! I can imagine several scenarios during or after a VT and/or Syntonic phototherapy: a. Your patient has successfully made his way through the Therapy. The obtained results from the follow-up examination prove this. Your patient is very satisfied since his subjective symptoms. See to it however that you keep this patient satisfied! - Congratulate your patient elaborately on the achieved results. Draw up a training schedule of exercises your patient can keep doing to phase out the therapy. It concerns a maintenance therapy of two to three times a week. Or a office therapy visit every three to four weeks. - Urge your patient to return a evaluation after six months as to control the situation. It seems best to immediately fix a new date. - Afterwards you can suggest an annual check-up, in case no new problems occur in the meantime. b. Your patient has successfully finished the therapy bit it ended up in agony... - Grant your patient a breathing pause and do not give him/her a new assignment for the next four weeks. After this period it is recommended for him/her to commence the home or office therapy again on a basis of three times a week, for home therapy, and once a week for the office therapy. When dealing with home therapy give this patient a phone call after a short period to show interest in his visual condition. This way he/she will definitely be interested in beginning home therapy again. Afterwards you can also urge him/her to return for a re-evaluation after six months. c. Your patient has not entirely finished the therapy. - This is a great pity, but give him/her some extra personal attention by phoning him/her inquiring after his/her current situation, whether he/she is still having problems, whether the situation has changed. - Urge him/her to go through the exercises he is already familiar with and to start the office therapy after a short period of time. d. Your patient gave up already at the beginning of the therapy. This patient was not satisfied with this approach to solve his/her problems. He/she will possibly be dissatisfied. - Do not let this discourage you, it can happen to us all. S... Happens. Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM 5

7 The financial aspect of the eye care services! The know-how, effort, investment, time etc. that you offer must indisputably be refunded! Regard yourself as a skilled professional notwithstanding the profession being quite young and not yet fully appreciated in the service industries. For this reason, each and everyone of you has got the responsibility to raise this profession to a higher level.. Do not be modest and do not hesitate to ask a sufficient fee for the time you spend.. Always characterize yourself as a specialist and do not let those who have little trust in your knowledge intimidate you. Patients should purchase the necessary material themselves at the start of the therapy instead of borrowing it from your practice! Why?. If the material is put at the patients disposal, you have to take into account that it will get ruined in term, lost or simply not returned. Very often it is treated without care.. In case you ask a deposit for the therapy equipment that people take home, you will have to admit after some experience that this does not work either. The problem will be: In which case do you refund the deposit and when not?! The deposit system can work however for e.g. more expensive attributes, like the Syntonic Optometry instruments for home therapy.. Offer the necessary material in a complete package, the cost of which is integrated in a global price offer! Automatically, a surplus value will be given to the therapy since the patients make a conscious investment. They are spending money and as result they will work harder. Afterwards they can continue the exercises at home with the purchased material. People will more easily discuss what they are doing at home amongst family and friends, which is another advantage. More free publicity for your business!. When offering Syntonic Optometry, inform your patients about the total cost for the entire period. You can still consider a payment in instalments.. Put out a price list of the various examinations and/or therapy s that can be carried out in your optometric centre. But most important: Put a price card on yourself because you have to earn back all those years of blood, sweat and tears!!! Conclusion What is better group vs. ono-on-one therapy or home vs. office therapy will always be a big point of discussion and every optometrist who is successful no matter which therapy he/she uses, will believe his system is the best. Every optometrist has to experience for him/her self what is the best, or maybe make a combination of different therapy forms. Therefore one has to try everything out to get a positive or negative feeling about the different VT forms. But one thing has to be clear: No matter which therapy you chose, the concepts and basic principles of Behavioral Optometry and Syntonic Optometry have to be respected and included in the therapy. Only then the therapy will be successful. Stefan Collier, F.O., FCSO ICBO April 9, PM 6

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