Committed to optometric education, North Shore Eye Care launched its Spring education seminar Tweet

On a beautiful Spring day North Shore Eye Care hosted its Spring educational seminar.  Attendance was high with 110 optometrists present, ignoring the chance to be outdoors with their families.  It was an exciting meeting with most people staying to the very end.  

Dr. Jeffrey Martin opened up the seminar with a tribute to his father who began North Shore Eye Care 50 years ago.  He loved Ophthalmology and never wanted to retire, working until his recent passing 2 weeks ago.  He was followed by Dr. John Mauro who gave a lively talk on uveitis and when to consider working up patients to prevent vision loss.  He classified uveitis as anterior, intermediate, and posterior depending on the anatomical area of the eye that is effected.  Having a strong interest in cataract surgery he mentioned different ways to handle difficult cases.

Dr. Paul Choinsky discussed the use of selective laser trabeculoplasty in the treatments of glaucoma.  This nondestructive laser treatment is a good cost effective alternative to costly glaucoma medications. While it is not designed to totally replace medications,  it is more convenient while avoiding possible side effects.

Ron Purnell, the administrator and CEO of Maine Eye Care Associates and Maine Eye Care Surgical Center gave an important talk on how to appropriately code when billing followed by Dr. Brett Rosenblatt a retinal specialist from Vitreoretinal Consultants of Long Island.  He stressed the importance of optical coherence tomography which has proven to be an invaluable aid along with fluorescein angiography in diagnosing and treating diseases of the retina.

Next up was Dr. Jeffrey Martin, a high volume cataract surgeon.  He stressed the importance of always being honest with your patients even when the results may be suboptimal.  He emphasized that nothing good comes of blaming the patient when the outcome isn't good.  He made it clear that a thorough workup is required before undergoing surgery in order to rule out other pathology that might affect the eventual outcome.  For instance, a patient won't be overly grateful for your perfect cataract operation if his vision remains the same because of undiagnosed macula degeneration.

Rounding out the day Mr. Jim Rienzo, a business advisor with the Eye Care Business Advisory Group of Allergan, Inc., an eye care company, spoke of the importance of marketing your practice in the 21st century.