Revista lasoa ing

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Dear colleagues, In this opportunity, I want to recommend the article “Forget the smartphone at work� that opens the debate on the use of mobile phones during working hours in our offices. This text questions the excessive use of cell phones and give us some solutions for this useful tool so that it will not become an obstacle in our customer service.

The role of ophthalmologists as leaders of health institutions is a fundamental part of our life therefore it is important to avoid dependence on technology.

As leaders of a group that works for us, it is essential to set an example by creating awareness about the importance of customer service during our working hours. Being attentive to the patient and their ophthalmological needs is our raison to be, and is the basis for opening our offices to the public.

However, many times the indiscriminate use of our cellular equipment during work generates interpersonal barriers with patients who visit us in search of medical help.

An impersonal treatment to the patient can harm our image and the image of our clinic affecting our business and our ethics, creating misunderstandings and even problems with our collaborators and patients. However, we cannot forget the need of immediate communication required by our current society. That is why we must create mechanisms to be contacted during working hours, if an emergency occurs.

For this reason, and to expand our knowledge in the human resources area, I will share this article, hoping it will be very useful for the ophthalmological community.

Cordially, Dr. William de La PeĂąa

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RUNNING THE PRACTICE // CUSTOMER CARE INSTANT MESSAGE LOSE THE SMARTPHONE AT WORK Joe Casper, MBA, COE

The pharmacy technician discreetly hides his smartphone in the counter drawer, checking Facebook, sending text messages, and tweeting between patients. Similarly, the cashier at the supermarket keeps her phone behind the counter, using a lull in customer volume to send “selfies” to her friends, while the business pro- fessional, waiting for his next client to arrive, calls to talk to his friend about last night’s football game. No harm, no foul, right? After all, there wasn’t a patient requesting a prescription, a grocery shopper loading items on the conveyer belt, nor a client waiting to begin to consult. Wrong! Businesses are negatively influenced by excessive cellphone use.

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Like pharmacies, supermarkets, and other businesses, ophthalmic practices are among those fighting for full en- gagement of employees and losing this battle to smartphones and social media. It is the norm for employees always to have their phones, fearing they will miss an important text message or the latest social media drama. Some practices target this issue by having employees lock up their cellphones during the day, while others emphasize their policy of no cellphone usage during work hours. Unfortunately, it seems that neither of these approaches stands the test of time.

PROVEN COURSE OF ACTION While most cellphone policies including those previously described—are usually ineffective in longterm mitigation of the cellphone dilemma, there is still hope.

A course of action that has been proven to win the battle against cellphones and withstand the test of time is outlined in the following steps.

1. Initiate purposeful discussion. This intervention begins with the leadership team initiating a discussion with the entire staff about why the practice is in the eyecare business. Following this dialogue should be a discussion regarding the consequences of not having full engagement when interacting with patients. Some consequences might include delays in taking patients back, lack of a great customer service experience, reduced productivity, and an increased number of mistakes due to extended distraction. The point of this exercise is to have employees buy into a greater purpose for what they are doing. A hand slap will not provide the required behavioral change that sticks; however, if the staff recognizes that the work they perform is more important than anything supplied by their cell- phones, their attention will shift from their cellphones to their work.

2. Obtain provider buyin. The most important players in all cell- phone interventions are the physicians.

By showing employees that they can add value to their practice and professional life with decreased cellphone usage, the practice actually is providing staff with a new form of potential gratification. The outcome is lasting adherence to a successful cellphone policy and increased engagement and productivity.

If you do not have all members of the leadership team supporting this initiative, staff members will not take these demands seriously. In fact, the demise of most policies occurs when staff members regress after continuously seeing physicians and other members of the practice’s leadership team using their own smartphones during the work day. Practices would benefit if team leaders became more committed to the “here and now”—both with patients and colleagues. To encourage this, remind team leaders that the human interaction is the most special thing a practice can offer for connecting with patients and increasing referral rates.

3. Extend mechanisms for staff to be reached during emergencies and receive their online fix. One ophthalmologist said his staff members insist they need to be available to receive calls from their aging parents or sick children. What happened before smartphones? Individuals called the office and asked to speak with the employee. This doesn’t happen anymore because most people list their cellphone numbers as their emergency contact numbers. The leadership team should encourage staff members to use the main office number as an emergency number.

This will ensure that staff members can

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be reached during an emergency, without needing to carry their cellphones and constantly check them throughout the day. Staff should also be able to have their cellphones during breaks. This will prevent “cheating,� as the staff can look forward to their break to check their cellphones for important messages.

NEW GRATIFICATION The psychology behind needing to check the phone relates to the desire for gratification. Individuals expect some- thing magical to happen when they check their phone; however, most messages are just space fillers that that do not add value. By showing employees that

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they can add value to their practice and professional life with decreased cellphone usage, the practice actually is providing staff with a new form of potential gratification. The outcome is lasting adherence to a successful cell- phone policy and increased engagement and productivity. AE Joe Casper, MBA, COE (Casper_joe@allergan.com), es un alto consejero en el negocio del cuidado de los ojos con Allergan, EE.UU. en Peabody, Mass.

PATIENT CELLPHONE USAGE Many practices have signs that read “No Cellphone Usage.” Unfortunately, patients typically disregard these signs, and physi- cians and technicians often have to interrupt patients using cell- phones in the waiting room or during an exam. Because time and energy is money, practices should seek to decrease patient cellphone usage in order to provide the best care available and increase efficiency.

Eliminating the distraction of a cellphone makes this possible, simply because it increases patient engagement. Some prac- tices have found it helpful to politely ask patients to turn off phones once in the exam room.

For example: “Mrs. Smith, if you have a cell phone, could you please turn it off during the exam?” Staff members are trained to be understanding if the response is “I can’t because my child … etc.” Despite this, the patient still gets the message and usually does not respond to other personal calls or texts s/ he receives during the visit.

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ALACCSA-R LASOA

EDUCANDO A LAS PRÁCTICAS OFTALMOLÓGICAS PARA LIDERAR SU ORGANIZACIÓN

LASOA es una división de ALACCSA-R (Asociación Latinoamericana de Cirujanos de Catarata, Segmento Anterior y Refractiva) © 2017 LASOA • 2446 W Whittier Blvd, Montebello, CA 90640-3041 TEL. 323 887 8888 E-mail: contacto@lasoa.org

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