As part of onboarding staff at optometric offices, we often set attainable milestones for new employees. However, we often assume staff will be self-motivated to achieve these benchmarks after 30 days—or 60 days—and continue to flourish.
By being a proactive member in the process, as well as creating and celebrating new milestones, staff retention, motivation, and job satisfaction are maximized. People seek fulfillment. The more ways you provide for staff to experience growth in knowledge and understanding, the more confident, loyal, and dedicated they can become. Only 12% of staff leave their job for an increase in pay elsewhere, but 50% tend to leave due to poor management.
The way you onboard your staff helps promote the culture, values, and expectations of your practice; the way you keep them is by giving them the opportunity to see the value in what they provide to your patients.
Depending on the level of prior knowledge, the road to quality tech training is to repeat this "Grow, Educate, Motivate" cycle as the technician becomes more proficient, efficient, and confident. It will also require time, patience, and support from the trainer.
Grow your employees by giving them the tools they need to succeed
From day one, introduce new staff to the vocabulary of eyecare. Give the new trainee an eye exam so they experience the patient side, walk them through each step, and give a one-sentence description as to why it is done. Have them observe as a patient workup is performed and encourage them to ask questions at the end of the day about the cases they observed. For staff without prior medical experience, communicating with patients is not always intuitive. Observing the doctors and other seasoned employees can help your new technicians with proper communication tools and patient retention.
It is integral to SHOW the tech what a good employee looks like—don't just tell.
Setting a 30-day milestone for understanding and exhibiting proper communication with patients is one of the most important factors in longevity and staff retention. The AIDET method of teaching bedside manner is a useful resource. By observing, new staff are exposed to authentic human interaction and empathetic encounters with patients. The human relationship aspect of the encounter is embedded in the process and brings more satisfaction to both staff and patients.
Once there is an established expectation of how patient care should flow efficiently and how every patient should be treated kindly, the newest team member will be able to see what the expectations for a successful technician look like.
Match educational resources to your employees’ learning preferences
It’s important to remember that people learn best from many different approaches; some learn orally, some visually, some with hands-on training. During the interview, prior to hiring, it may be good to ask and establish what kind of learning modality they respond to best.
At our practice, we screen-recorded a workup of the patient chart through the EHR program. This allows techs to review, rewatch, and use it as a template, which creates consistency across the staff. This can be achieved by purchasing a headset with a built-in mic. If you are unsure of how to record a video yourself, this article gives you a step-by-step guide.
For American Academy of Optometry members, AOA offers a FREE online training program: Staff Training Fundamentals
For overall guides ranging from patient history guides to illustrated study sheets there is a wealth of different ways a new technician can familiarize themselves with optometry.
For podcast fans, we recommend Eyecare Basics
Additionally, there are tons of great resources for AOA members available online, including certification courses for paraoptometric staff as well as online videos and other tools.
Other great videos and lectures abound online: Tim Root: Virtual Eye Professor has an immense and impressive bounty of free education for anyone in the eye field, ranging from basic eye anatomy all the way to neuro-ophthalmology testing.
Teach systematically
It is important to teach systematically. As a starting point, a good rundown checklist would consist of:
- Basic understanding of what an eye exam consists of with a one-on-one exam.
- Computer/EHR training, via practicing with non-live charts, watching prepared videos, etc.
- Flow of patient care, via observation.
- History taking and documentation as a scribe.
- Equipment (ranging from autorefractors/lensometers to slit lamps, depending on what is expected of your technician).
- Supplemental testing/ contact lens training.
- Ocular pharmacology.
In particular, once a new technician has a handle on the basics—within the first two weeks—and has watched and practiced with EHR, start your new technician as a scribe. This will help them navigate the computer and see how challenges (that can occur during workups) are managed. Just as importantly, they will observe how patients are treated at the practice. In turn, it will also give you time to feel truly confident that a new hire will work out.
As the scribing continues, have them begin to take a patient's auto-refractor, reading glasses in a lensometer, and visual acuities, and then return to assist you as a scribe. I recommend, at first, they take histories with you or another technician in the room so you can steer the questions if need be. If they do a good job, praise them in front of patients. If there are some areas that are concerning, discuss those matters privately after the patient has left.
The continued education of staff is what makes the difference between an interested, engaged employee versus an employee who finds little fulfillment in their role and little motivation to stay dedicated to the job.
Motivate your employees by acknowledging achievements and creating new goals
Self-assessment and reflection can be good reminders as to how far new staff have come as well as giving them the space to acknowledge what they still may need help on. Offer questions and post bi-monthly or quarterly—whatever timeline can consistently be managed. Do not wait until the annual staff review to give your staff feedback or to have them reflect on what they have achieved, seen, or how they have flourished as a member of your staff.
As another incentive, have staff participate in staff gift card raffles by putting their knowledge to the test. Once a month or more, I send quick quiz questions for staff. These raffle-style “pop quiz” questions cover eyecare basics, patient workup techniques, billing/coding, etc. I always draw from a recent experience or an interaction that staff may have missed the mark on.
Frame these questions with varying degrees of difficulty. Begin with a simpler one that a person should be able to answer if they have been employed for a month, and end with one that you expect a seasoned tech to know. This way, everyone has at least one challenging question. As staff members progress or areas need to be refreshed, keep adding layers to the questions. Keep the questions light-hearted, while still reinforcing and refreshing staff knowledge.
By having consistent “quizzes,” you show you are dedicated to your employees' success; you can inject humor into questions and bolster morale. When giving staff one or two questions they know and a few that are challenging, it will hopefully spike their interest and curiosity. But, more importantly, it will also show you are putting effort into their growth at the practice.
If possible, bring technicians into the exam room to show them what an LPI or corneal abrasion looks like under a slit lamp.
Offer staff new experiences and the opportunity to gain knowledge to make them feel like they are a part of the healthcare team that patients depend on.
By receiving methodical, consistent training, diamonds in the rough will become shiny precious gems to the benefit of your practice.
