| Viewpoint from the Editor |

Summer plans

Jane Shuman, COT, COE, OCS, Co-Editor

It is summer 2016, and many of you plan to be on the move this season, taking vacation, traveling to familiar or new destinations, or planning a stay-cation to relax with family and friends. Whatever you do this summer, you will likely reflect on the continuous momentum of the first half of the year and be grateful for the opportunity to separate from it for a little while.

Continuing momentum at OP

The momentum for Ophthalmic Professional has continued to grow this year, as well. Readership is up, and we continue to get great feedback and suggestions from many of you. Thanks to your input, we have compiled the second annual Ophthalmic Professional “Subscriber Survey,” which has been nicely summarized as this issue’s cover feature. (See “The road to a rewarding career,” p. 12.) The survey identifies a number of trends and offers a profile of today’s allied health professional in ophthalmology. Other highlights of this month’s issue of OP include the following features:

• On p. 34, Dorcas A. Fikejs, COA, OSC, OCS, discusses how analyzing processes in the practice can improve efficiency and patient care in the article, “The benefits of clinical workflow analysis.”

• Christine L. Larsen, MD, provides a summary of the recent surgical developments aimed at managing patients who have glaucoma. See “Advances in glaucoma management” on p. 24.

• Our coverage of treatments continues on p. 22 with an overview of the surgical procedures used to treat retina diseases and disorders.

• Our “Cornea survival series,” contributed by staff members at Bascom Palmer, continues this month on p. 18 with an installment on refractometry.

• The subject of “going mobile” — that is, using mobile surgical solutions that provide lasers to clinics and ambulatory surgical centers — is explored in “The mobile solution to surgery” beginning on p. 28.

Also, consider keeping up to date with our regular columns on customer service (p. 38), coding (p. 40), and compliance (p. 42).

A time for education

Summer is also a great time to learn new skills, perfect others and learn what makes the rest of the office tick. So, when you are not on vacation, but the doctors are, ask a respected co-worker to share his or her knowledge with you.

Happy summer! OP

Ms. Shuman, president of Eyetechs, is a nationally recognized authority on clinical flow, scheduling and technician education. Prior to founding Eyetechs, she worked for over 15 years as an ophthalmic technician and clinical manager.