"Measure twice, cut once" could be a slogan of BEI, because our values is great results are more important than turning patients on a conveyor belt.
BEI: WHY DOES IT TAKE SO “LONG”? (2)
Part of this analysis happens while the patient is waiting?
Yes, they sit there and think, “They’ve forgotten about me,” but meanwhile one or two employees are working only on them. Then the doctor comes and they start to think, “Sigizmund came after me and has already left, but I’m still here for some reason.” Yes, one person has finished while another is still there, but this is because people have different illnesses of a different severity.
Then why with this fictitious Doctor N is everything so quick and efficient? Tsk-tsk!
Well, that’s a doctor for whom you’re just a checkmark, come and gone. We are really anxious for these patients. For us, the reputation of giving people great results is more important than turning them out on a conveyor belt. And yes, sometimes there is that feeling that there are a lot of people here and it’s kind of chaotic, but it’s actually a well-oiled machine. In order to do quality, meaningful work, the principle of flying by the seat of your pants isn’t the best possible method. Sometimes we even have to repeat the same tests.
I’ve heard that after an exhausting workday you come home, and instead of relaxing with your family, you’re still writing charts until midnight.
The bulk of the preliminary and final work happens behind-the-scenes. A movie gets filmed, but then it takes a long time to edit. After everyone is gone, the doctor continues to work with the data from your visit, so that we can work accurately and intelligently on your next visit. And when you come again, my function is to determine our common goal, whether that’s visual acuity, improvement of retinopathy, a decrease in intraocular pressure, improvement of the field of vision, why you have dry eyes, etc. In short, we figure out if the treatment method worked out like we planned. You aren’t always able to achieve the desired result in one fell swoop. Sometimes you have to try drops before opting for stronger methods, or change medications that aren’t seemingly related to your eyes, or go to another type of specialist. And often an additional analysis of the situation occurs after the patient has already left.
I have this perception that there are patients who, to put it lightly, are indifferent to the technical equipment and the qualifications of the doctor and their team, because “all doctors are about the same, so the best ones are the fastest.” Is that true?
Yes, and, “Doctor, I don’t need all this! I’m fed up. I’m going somewhere else.” And really they just go to whoever is the fastest, but within a few months or years the problems return, already very difficult to solve but sometimes too late. In this case, the question “Why does it take so long?” negates itself. You always need to check out the office of any doctor to see what the staff is like, the equipment, and look at the doctor’s diplomas. It affects your life, or at least the quality of your life. We have a reputation with people for always going the extra mile. You could use a retinal camera from 20 years ago, but no, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to have the latest cameras and most exact data, and this offers the best results.
So the patient, unaware that what’s going on, sits there bored. And like everyone else who doesn’t like to read on their phone, I get it. If there were karaoke and movies, it’d be a piece of cake.
Yes, and that’s the thing with modern ophthalmology – it isn’t a piece of cake. I, for example, am not an optometrist. I cannot do all the work. People come in and say, “Give me glasses. I’m not interested in anything else.” I’m sorry, no. If you come to me, I have a responsibility to treat your optic nerve, your early-stage cataracts, and many other things, and if we don’t honestly examine your eyes, that’s simply negligence. Therefore, when you go to the ophthalmologist, be it once every three months or six – please, at least take care of yourself. The time you spend in the office is time that we spend on you.
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