Every patient experience presents an opportunity to be a hero for your patients. It may be something simple like connecting them to eyewear that improves their hobby, helping them with their quality of life by taking their dry eye issues seriously, or as complex as a new specialty contact lens fit.
Either way, I view every exam as an opportunity to be a hero to someone, and I always stress this to all of my staff members. Whether it is on the phone prior to scheduling, to paying their bill, every staff member can have a huge impact on the patient experience.
The role of staff in supporting patients and fitting toric contact lenses
This holds especially true when fitting the new specialty lenses. Using this whole-team approach for example, can dramatically improve toric contact lens fitting. It just takes a few simple steps, but does require a few changes and deliberate actions to ensure success.
When it comes to successful toric lens fitting, it’s not just about the doctor choosing the right parameters—it’s about the entire eyecare team working together to support the patient throughout the process.
Tips for toric success
From the initial fitting to follow-up, a consistent team approach ensures patients feel heard and ultimately satisfied with their toric lens fitting experience.
Here is my approach and how I have each staff member contribute, along with actionable steps you can take back to your practice to ensure a consistent high quality journey for every toric lens wearing patient.
Empower your schedulers with knowledge
Typically, the scheduling process occurs at the beginning of every exam before the doctor sees and determines the visual needs for the patient. Most offices have well-informed staff that are competent in managing a schedule and dealing with insurance questions.
But are they also able to answer questions like:
- “Does your doctor see kids?”
- “Does your doctor fit contact lenses for astigmatism?”
- “Does your doctor treat eye disease?”
I find the biggest thing that can help arm your staff with answers to these questions is constant messaging about all the services and technologies the practice offers and education on the full range of capabilities the acting optometrist can utilize to help patients.
Discuss the simple cases with your staff, not just the tough ones that require a referral. Tell them how you can turn what we may view as a simple process of toric lens fitting into a win for your patients.
Maximize pre-screening
Your technicians always have their thumb on what’s going on in the office and what your patients are really saying; make sure you convey how critical their role is for the patient journey.
It's not just what they read on the chart while they are pretested, it is also the comments they make or the quality of vision as they read the letters. We, as doctors, know that someone with uncorrected astigmatism may struggle to read details or may confuse some similar letters.
However, there is a difference between seeing 20/20-1 in the pretest room, and “the patient was 20/20-1 but guessed at all the letters on the 20/25 and 20/20 row.” I constantly tell my technicians to work on gathering this nuanced information and to record the subtle comments the patient makes that could lead to me helping solve a problem like uncorrected astigmatism.
In fact, for these patients, the extra step that makes my job even easier is when a technician puts a few words in the chart to indicate the quality of vision beyond just what the patients saw during acuity testing.
My technicians are empowered to interpret some of the data from the autorefractor, saying things like, “this instrument just measured your estimate of glasses prescription, including a measurement of astigmatism.” In addition, they can establish the level of patient understanding and establish goals.
Here is a list of potential questions technicians can ask:
- Have you ever been told you have astigmatism before?
- Did you know that if astigmatism is uncorrected, most patients struggle with digital devices and night driving?”
- Do you currently wear contact lenses, or if not, are you interested in wearing contact lenses?
- Have you felt like your vision was not as sharp as it should be?
- Have you considered wearing contacts but were unsure if you could because of your prescription with astigmatism?
After acquiring the answers, they can follow up with a simple statement to boost patient confidence, such as “Great, our doctors are experts in fitting contact lenses in patients with and without astigmatism.”
Fully utilize your contact lens technicians experts
In the world of limited time with patients, we need to delegate authority to our staff, but more importantly, we need them to have the proper knowledge for their role in patient care.
They can often troubleshoot lens issues our patients experience and help minimize chair time and the overall fitting process as a result. Of equal importance, they can help close the loop and ensure success for any patient that either upgrades to new technology such as new lens materials or to a toric lens or is new to contact lenses.
They act as cheerleaders and support for the patients if they have questions or struggles with the lenses. They are important extensions of our knowledge on how the lenses work, how the lenses can solve their issues, and why we chose the lenses that we chose.
Fun with fitting
The key to success in the fitting process is turning what they may see as a daunting task for a patient into a seamless and fun process. One great way to make it fun is to turn the fitting into a “kindergarten fingerpainting workshop.”
This means letting the patients play with the lens, feel all the characteristics, show them the alignment markings, and how the lens folds and moves before even attempting to put the lens in their eyes.
In other words, let them get their hands “dirty” with the lens to help them understand how it will feel on their eye. Another thing that can help with the process is sharing videos that include each step, but to go the extra mile, share these videos on their phone, so they can take this resource home with them.
End with education
A final thing to always consider is helping them fully understand how the lens will help them see, and what to expect with their new contact lenses for astigmatism. It is best to tell them what will happen when things go wrong and what to do, including if the lens is inside out or feels like it's stuck in their eye.
Be cautious here, as this education could either confuse or scare if not done carefully. Focus on the positives, and that it would be normal to run into issues, comparing the process to learning how to drive or ride a bike and teach them the importance of follow-up and troubleshooting issues that can lead to problems.
Finally, leave them with all the benefits for choosing a new lens to correct their astigmatism, focusing on the issues that led them to want these lenses in the first place.
Strategic steps to increase staff involvement
Here are a few action items to ensure your staff is always ready to help participate in the successful care of your toric contact lens patients:
Cross-training with shadowing
- Have technicians sit in on toric fittings with the optometrist to observe lens rotation assessment and troubleshooting.
- Encourage all staff to shadow contact lens insertion training sessions to reinforce their own instructions.
Role-play
- Practice with front desk staff by having them explain contact lens and toric lens appointments and answer common questions.
- Simulate interactions where contact lens technicians troubleshoot patient concerns like handling, lens movement, or discomfort.
Product focus
- Spend some time at monthly staff meetings discussing different toric lens brands. Cover basic benefits, unique benefits, and how to communicate those to patients.
Team huddles
- Hold short weekly or daily huddles to review a recent toric lens success or challenge and discuss what went well, what could improve, and how each staff member contributed.
In summary
Toric lens fitting is more than just what a doctor can do for their patients, it’s a system that requires the entire office. When every team member is empowered and knowledgeable, your patients benefit and often refer new patients to the office. They leave not only seeing better, but feeling more trust in your care.
Focusing on a team approach and using effective training tools, your practice can elevate astigmatism care, reduce lens dropouts, and keep patients coming back for the clear, comfortable vision they deserve and differentiate your practice.
