Eyeworld Daily News

8 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | MAY 5, 2023 ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING DAILY NEWS in the postoperative setting and will again have a dynamic faculty and be very interactive. The audience will pick up some useful phrases and pearls as we discuss common patient conversations," Dr. McCabe said. Refractive Day will conclude with the Steinert Lecture, which will be given by Vance Thompson, MD. "Dr. Thompson is a surgeon with effective communication skills, en- dearing interpersonal skills, and high overall EQ. He embodies someone who understands, empathizes, and connects with patients," Dr. Chang said. "Vance has developed and ad- opted new technologies through his involvement in hundreds of clinical trials, so he's clearly an amazing innovator. He has done that with the patient in mind, focusing on patient interaction, and striking the balance of innovation and compassion." "I'm so excited for this year's program," Dr. McCabe said. "Attend- ees can expect to come away inspired and encouraged, with a toolbox full of both EQ phrases and IQ pearls shared by an outstanding faculty. These are tools that can be imple- mented immediately to improve the assessment of patient wants and needs, the education of patients, and the management of unmet expecta- tions and complications." how to improve our EQ skills. It may not seem as important as the latest development or technology, but the soft skills are what often make the difference between a happy patient and an unhappy patient. Ultimately, while we want to treat the disease, we always have to start with treating the patient. "Refractive Day will not only be about gaining knowledge, it will be about learning how to apply this knowledge to our patients every day," Dr. Chang added later. Refractive Day will be broken into four sessions. The first will focus on EQ during the preoperative stage. Dr. Chang said this session will "explore preoperative issues with respect to our patients' visual journey by age as well as by person- ality types. Pearls will be given on how to understand, educate, and guide patients through preoperative assessment and education for various refractive procedures." The second session will focus on corneal refractive surgery, incorpo- rating different refractive modalities into practice and how to handle refractive surgeries that don't go as planned postop. "This will be a very interactive session with excellent faculty, and I can't wait to hear their communica- tion pearls," Dr. McCabe said. The third session will high- light new technologies in the field, including the EVO (STAAR Surgical), the Light Adjustable Lens (RxSight), Vuity (Allergan) and other presby- opia drops, the IC-8 Apthera (Bausch + Lomb), InteliLight (Johnson & Johnson Vision), the SBL-3 (Lenstec), and more. The fourth session will return to EQ but now in postop scenarios. "The last session of the day will look at pa- tient personality types and scenarios A ttendees of the 2023 ASCRS Refractive Day can expect something different than in years past. "Refractive Day this year is designed to be less didactic and more interactive, a structure that is in per- fect harmony with this year's theme of 'Improving Your EQ to Boost Your Patients' IQ,'" said Cathleen McCabe, MD, program co-chair. "Last year we focused on image quality (IQ), all the ways we have of measuring IQ pre- and postoperatively, and the surgical and clinical tools we have to improve image quality postoperatively. "This year, we make the con- nection between EQ (emotional intelligence) and improved out- comes," Dr. McCabe continued. "How we communicate with patients is critical to understanding their needs and wants. Excellent communication is an essential ingredient in educat- ing our patients regarding their eye health and their refractive surgery options. This year we will focus on improving communication skills when educating patients preoper- atively, when setting expectations, and when managing postoperative outcomes." Daniel Chang, MD, program co- chair, said Refractive Day "is going to be different from anything that we've seen before in terms of being patient-centric." Dr. Chang said the goal of the 2023 Refractive Day is to provide the didactic information that attendees have come to expect but wrapped into discussions and demonstrations of practical clinical skills. "Communicating with patients is something we do every day, but many surgeons never receive for- mal training on how to do so," Dr. Chang said. "Even though we use them all day, we rarely talk about Refractive Day to focus on 'EQ'

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