Naive SDN Poster #1: I sure like optometry. It would be great if I could become an optometrist and work in a private practice.
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS WHERE ITS AT! In PRIVATE PRACTICE you can set your own fees. That means you can charge over $100 for your refraction. Not the whole exam JUST THE REFRACTION!
Naive SDN Poster #2: Wow, how do you charge so much just for a refraction? For how many patients are you actually able to collect the whole amount? Do you take much vision insurance?
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS HOW WE SET OUR OWN FEES. We are our own bosses. We steer the boat. We don't work for a pimply faced high school drop out. We control our destiny. We are the wind beneath our wings. We are the alpha and omega of optometry. We are far superior to the low-life commercial optometrists out there.
Naive SDN poster #2: Wow, private practice sounds awesome but you didn't answer my questions. I really would like to know how to position myself in the optometric market while charging appropriate fees. It just seems to me that the fees you quote are so high. How do you justify them to the patients?
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS HOW WE JUSTIFY THEM. You're really trying my nerves. You're not some sort of commercial optometry apologist are you?We're basically eye dentists. They charge X so we charge X. It's only fair. Dang women and their hair and nails. If women will pay so much for getting their nails done surely they will pay a small mortgage to get an eye exam at a HIGH QUALITY PRIVATE PRACTICE THAT HAS A GDX/HRT/HVF/PACHYMETER. WHAT COMMERCIAL PRACTICE HAS ALL OF THESE EXPENSIVE AND HIGHLY NECESSARY PIECES OF EQUIPMENT?
KHE: Funny you should mention nail salons. There sure do seem to be a lot of private practices located in strip malls next to a nail salon and a porn shop. Not much better than commercial optometry if you ask me.
Naive SDN poster #3: I really wish I could go into private practice but my life situation has led me to take a commercial gig temporarily. I practice to the best of my ability but am hampered by a lack of medical testing equipment. I refer as little out as possible and charge great fees. Its a tough market out there.
drgregory/posner: WHAT A LAZY WANNABE OPTOMETRIST. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE PROFESSION. TRY RAISING YOUR FEES AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
Naive SDN poster #3: I already said my fees are quite high relative to a lot of the practices in the area. I can't go much higher or I will price myself out of the market. I am already higher than three quarters of the practices around me - including the private practices.
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE! YOU CAN'T RAISE YOUR FEES BECAUSE YOU'RE CONTROLLED BY THE PIMPLY FACED BLUE COAT OUT FRONT OF YOUR WAL-MART. YOU ARE LAZY AND NO GOOD! DISGRACE
Multiple SDN posters: Please simmer down. Poor Naive SDN poster #3 is doing the best they can with the situation they were dealt.
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE! THIS PROFESSION IS GOING DOWN HILL. Everyone is going to work in commercial practice. Look at them defend this lazy sap. YOU CAN START A PRIVATE PRACTICE WITH A NICKEL, A CARD BOARD BOX, A HALF A TIN OF ALTOIDS, A PAPER CLIP, AND AN ICD-9 BOOK. IF YOU CHARGE APPROPRIATELY YOU WILL BECOME RICH AND FAMOUS LIKE ME.
Multiple SDN posters: We want to work in private practice. We don't want to work in commercial practice but life happens and sometimes you don't get to do what you want to do when you want to do it.
drgregory/posner: KIDS THESE DAYS! LAZY I TELL YOU. IF EVERYONE GRADUATING FROM OPTOMETRY SCHOOL AVOIDED COMMERCIAL PRACTICE WE WOULD BE GIVEN A LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY. WE WOULD GET RESPECT FROM THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY, THE PUBLIC, AND WOMEN WOULD START TALKING TO US! DANG KIDS HOLDING US DOWN!
(Obviously the above was written in a light hearted manner. No offense intended.)
The most important aspect of this imaginary thread is that Naive SDN poster #3 never posted again, was embarrassed, felt worse about their work situation but wasn't given a single bit of helpful advice.
Also important was that students, who desperately want to go into private practice, were made to feel like any minute they spend in commercial practice is something to be ashamed of, is a result of them being lazy/stupid/unmotivated.
This is the truth according to a lowly commercial optometrist
1) Optometry is fun
2) Private practice would be even more fun than commercial optometry but required commitments that I was unable to make upon graduation
3) It is not shameful to work in a commercial location as long as you work to the best of your abilities and are a good ambassador for optometry
4) You will lose skills in commercial optometry/materials based private practice - try to avoid doing that.
5) Commercial optometry patients won't listen to you, neither will private practice patients. Patients just don't listen. Don't stop educating them though.
6) Learn how to bill. Try to get a good private practice preceptorship site to help you learn these important skills.
7) Sample widely while in optometry school. Visit a behavioural optometrist, a medical optometrist, a contact lens guru, etc. Find what you like, do what you like.
8) Don't listen to people who type in all caps. 😉
9) Give back to the community. Free clinics are busy but rewarding. Refractive error is the second leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. People are functionally impaired both in the developing world and here at home due simply to a lack of access to spectacles and exams. (Think deeply about the appropriateness of dispensing recycled spectacles in the developing world.)
10) Not all private practices are perfect, not all commercial practices are terrible.
That's that. Three more work days and hopefully the bulk of my clinical career will be done. Next year - 5 months in a forgotten land, one month in a land destroyed by one man and then my wife will make the big leap into private practice and I'll...?
Good luck to all the students as you finish your educations! Enjoy school.
To the optometrists - remember above all that your first priority when you post on SDN should be to educate and push students toward greatness. This, in my humble opinion, is best done with respect and love.
In the pursuit of peace, love, and justice,
xmattODx
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS WHERE ITS AT! In PRIVATE PRACTICE you can set your own fees. That means you can charge over $100 for your refraction. Not the whole exam JUST THE REFRACTION!
Naive SDN Poster #2: Wow, how do you charge so much just for a refraction? For how many patients are you actually able to collect the whole amount? Do you take much vision insurance?
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS HOW WE SET OUR OWN FEES. We are our own bosses. We steer the boat. We don't work for a pimply faced high school drop out. We control our destiny. We are the wind beneath our wings. We are the alpha and omega of optometry. We are far superior to the low-life commercial optometrists out there.
Naive SDN poster #2: Wow, private practice sounds awesome but you didn't answer my questions. I really would like to know how to position myself in the optometric market while charging appropriate fees. It just seems to me that the fees you quote are so high. How do you justify them to the patients?
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE IS HOW WE JUSTIFY THEM. You're really trying my nerves. You're not some sort of commercial optometry apologist are you?We're basically eye dentists. They charge X so we charge X. It's only fair. Dang women and their hair and nails. If women will pay so much for getting their nails done surely they will pay a small mortgage to get an eye exam at a HIGH QUALITY PRIVATE PRACTICE THAT HAS A GDX/HRT/HVF/PACHYMETER. WHAT COMMERCIAL PRACTICE HAS ALL OF THESE EXPENSIVE AND HIGHLY NECESSARY PIECES OF EQUIPMENT?
KHE: Funny you should mention nail salons. There sure do seem to be a lot of private practices located in strip malls next to a nail salon and a porn shop. Not much better than commercial optometry if you ask me.
Naive SDN poster #3: I really wish I could go into private practice but my life situation has led me to take a commercial gig temporarily. I practice to the best of my ability but am hampered by a lack of medical testing equipment. I refer as little out as possible and charge great fees. Its a tough market out there.
drgregory/posner: WHAT A LAZY WANNABE OPTOMETRIST. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE PROFESSION. TRY RAISING YOUR FEES AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
Naive SDN poster #3: I already said my fees are quite high relative to a lot of the practices in the area. I can't go much higher or I will price myself out of the market. I am already higher than three quarters of the practices around me - including the private practices.
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE! YOU CAN'T RAISE YOUR FEES BECAUSE YOU'RE CONTROLLED BY THE PIMPLY FACED BLUE COAT OUT FRONT OF YOUR WAL-MART. YOU ARE LAZY AND NO GOOD! DISGRACE
Multiple SDN posters: Please simmer down. Poor Naive SDN poster #3 is doing the best they can with the situation they were dealt.
drgregory/posner: PRIVATE PRACTICE! THIS PROFESSION IS GOING DOWN HILL. Everyone is going to work in commercial practice. Look at them defend this lazy sap. YOU CAN START A PRIVATE PRACTICE WITH A NICKEL, A CARD BOARD BOX, A HALF A TIN OF ALTOIDS, A PAPER CLIP, AND AN ICD-9 BOOK. IF YOU CHARGE APPROPRIATELY YOU WILL BECOME RICH AND FAMOUS LIKE ME.
Multiple SDN posters: We want to work in private practice. We don't want to work in commercial practice but life happens and sometimes you don't get to do what you want to do when you want to do it.
drgregory/posner: KIDS THESE DAYS! LAZY I TELL YOU. IF EVERYONE GRADUATING FROM OPTOMETRY SCHOOL AVOIDED COMMERCIAL PRACTICE WE WOULD BE GIVEN A LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY. WE WOULD GET RESPECT FROM THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY, THE PUBLIC, AND WOMEN WOULD START TALKING TO US! DANG KIDS HOLDING US DOWN!
(Obviously the above was written in a light hearted manner. No offense intended.)
The most important aspect of this imaginary thread is that Naive SDN poster #3 never posted again, was embarrassed, felt worse about their work situation but wasn't given a single bit of helpful advice.
Also important was that students, who desperately want to go into private practice, were made to feel like any minute they spend in commercial practice is something to be ashamed of, is a result of them being lazy/stupid/unmotivated.
This is the truth according to a lowly commercial optometrist
1) Optometry is fun
2) Private practice would be even more fun than commercial optometry but required commitments that I was unable to make upon graduation
3) It is not shameful to work in a commercial location as long as you work to the best of your abilities and are a good ambassador for optometry
4) You will lose skills in commercial optometry/materials based private practice - try to avoid doing that.
5) Commercial optometry patients won't listen to you, neither will private practice patients. Patients just don't listen. Don't stop educating them though.
6) Learn how to bill. Try to get a good private practice preceptorship site to help you learn these important skills.
7) Sample widely while in optometry school. Visit a behavioural optometrist, a medical optometrist, a contact lens guru, etc. Find what you like, do what you like.
8) Don't listen to people who type in all caps. 😉
9) Give back to the community. Free clinics are busy but rewarding. Refractive error is the second leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. People are functionally impaired both in the developing world and here at home due simply to a lack of access to spectacles and exams. (Think deeply about the appropriateness of dispensing recycled spectacles in the developing world.)
10) Not all private practices are perfect, not all commercial practices are terrible.
That's that. Three more work days and hopefully the bulk of my clinical career will be done. Next year - 5 months in a forgotten land, one month in a land destroyed by one man and then my wife will make the big leap into private practice and I'll...?
Good luck to all the students as you finish your educations! Enjoy school.
To the optometrists - remember above all that your first priority when you post on SDN should be to educate and push students toward greatness. This, in my humble opinion, is best done with respect and love.
In the pursuit of peace, love, and justice,
xmattODx
