By Ally Stoeger, OD 
What’s your first reaction when you walk into your practice each morning? Which one of the following best describes you?
1. Enthusiasm
2. Here we go again
3. This place drives me crazy
The key to practice success is not just trying to maximize current profits. The key to success is building a satisfying career over time. The following are several steps to take—especially now, as we begin a new year—that reduce stress in your workday and increase your satisfaction level with your profession and career.
Take a hard look at every element in your practice. Select one or two elements at a time that you can change that will help to make you want to stay in this profession for a lifetime. Here are some examples:
Take a quality lunch break. One doctor I know had a long-standing policy of scheduling Medicaid patients during lunch. If the patients showed up the doctor wolfed down a sandwich. If the patients no-showed he would have time for a lunch break. Short term this strategy was financially advantageous. Long term? This doctor was pretty close to burn out. Lunch break is a time to recharge. A healthy lunch combined with a short walk or light exercise means you can counter the physical repercussions of the many awkward neck and back positions we find ourselves in as we examine patients. Think how much more you would enjoy seeing your afternoon patients if you have an opportunity to take a quality lunch break.
Repair or replace damaged equipment. Another stress reduction suggestion is to repair or replace damaged equipment. It’s demoralizing (for you and your patient) to show a cracked and dirty near point card. It’s tough to do an exam through a smudged phoropter lens. It’s hard on your back if the phoropter arm doesn’t move smoothly. Volk evaluations or Goldmann tonometry are much harder on your neck and shoulders if the slit lamp does not glide smoothly. Repairing or replacing things you use multiple times every day is a great way to improve comfort and morale. Consider purchasing equipment with ergonomic features. Automatic phoropters and automatic projectors are first class ways to help you prevent repetitive motion stress injuries to your shoulders, neck and back. Consider the extra expense as an investment in being able to work pain free as you get older.
Eliminate problematic vision plans. If there is a vision plan that drives your staff crazy because of poor quality lab work and patient complaints, eliminate that plan. The benefits of improved morale and practice reputation outweigh the short- term loss of income from that plan. And consider the warm feeling of doing your “patriotic duty.” If each optometrist dropped an awful vision plan we could stop the downward spiral.
Be proactive about your next step. If you are employed by an optometrist or corporation whose policies you abhor, don’t stay there. Just as depressed individuals feel they don’t have options, depressed optometrists don’t feel they have any options either. If you are in that situation, look for better mentors. There are many optometrists who have satisfying careers. Too often optometrists who work in run down, stressful environments only know other optometrists in similar environments. Go to conferences. Talk to successful optometrists. Only by visiting lots of practices will you be able to truly see the variety of options available to you.
There is no better way to protect your future livelihood than to become an optometrist who is starts each day with satisfaction and enthusiasm. And the best way to do that is to eliminate, one at a time, those items that sap your enthusiasm.
Ally Stoeger, OD, is founder of www.RealPracticeToday.com and president of Consulting With Vision LLC, an optometry practice consulting firm. She was a founding and managing partner of a multi-doctor practice and is now in the process of opening a new practicein Virginia. Contact: ally@realpracticetoday.com.
