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Imagine this: You're at an eye-care conference, waiting for the lecturer to begin, when you start talking with a fellow practitioner sitting just a few seats away. She tells you [...]

Have you been feeling frustrated, angry and irritable as a result of interaction with your patients and staff? Have you been experiencing physical symptoms, such as digestive problems, headaches and [...]

Contact lens industry data reveal good news and bad news for the contact lens portion of your practice. The good news? There is a large upswing in male and middle-aged [...]

The ability to prove to a bank that you deserve a loan for the purchase of new space for your ever-growing practice is a real pain in the neck--that is, [...]

If HGTV (Home and Garden Television) ever runs out of segments for its Generation Renovation program--a show about renovating old and unique places--the network should give optometrist Robert Strohecker and [...]

Safe harbors are regulations that protect people or businesses from legal problems that could result from their actions, provided they meet certain conditions. For optometry, safe harbor first referred to [...]

Each year, the American Dialect Society--an organization dedicated to the study of how languages and dialects influence the English language--releases a list of the words and phrases they say have [...]

Optometrist Glenda Secor, of Huntington Beach, Calif., hadn't planned on specializing in contact lenses. Rather, she fell into this niche in 1978, when she got her first job. She worked [...]

When optometrist Bill F. Hefner, of Topeka, Kan., graduated from optometry school in 1997, he felt fairly confident he'd get his foot in the door at a private practice. Why? [...]

Eleven years ago, then 39-year-old Chip Goehring of Doylestown, Pa., saw his ophthalmologist for his regular yearly checkup (he is near-sighted), when his doctor diagnosed him with dry age-related macular [...]

On January 11, 2002, a New Jersey optometrist was sentenced to seven years in state prison, and was fined more than $1 million dollars for three counts of defrauding 29 [...]

When asked to discuss a memorable case of matching a pair of ophthalmic lenses to a patient's lifestyle, optometrist Carl Gaterbaum of Orlando Eye Associates fondly recalls the case of [...]

The thing about watching Smallville as ultimately, the viewers know how it's going to end. Clark Kent will move to Metropolis, become a mild-mannered reporter with the Daily Planet and [...]

When Dr. Star Anthony and her husband, Larry Greenstein, welcomed their new baby boy Kevin into the world ten years ago, they didn't know that a new career for Anthony [...]

Background Postoperative glycemic control improves cardiac surgery outcomes but insulin protocols are limited by complexity and inflexibility. We sought to evaluate the effect of implementing an electronic glycemic management system (eGMS) in conjunction with a cardiac surgery endocrinology consult service on glycemic control and outcomes after cardiac surgery.Methods All patients with a calculated preoperative risk of mortality who underwent cardiac surgery before and after implementation of an eGMS and an endocrinology consult service were identified. Glycemic control and surgical outcomes were compared using univariate analysis, and multivariate regression was used to model the risk-adjusted effects of the interventions on glycemic control, surgical outcomes, and resource utilization. The health care–related value added by the interventions was calculated by dividing risk-adjusted outcomes by total hospital costs.Results A total of 2612 patients were identified, with 1263 patients in the preimplementation cohort and 1349 in the postimplementation cohort. Multivariate regression demonstrated fewer postoperative hyperglycemic events (odds ratio [OR] 0.8, 95% CI, 0.65-0.99) after protocol implementation without an increase in hypoglycemic events (OR 0.96, 95% CI, 0.71-1.3). Average day-weighted mean glucose decreased from 144 to 138 mg/dL (P< .001). The improved glycemic control correlated with a risk-adjusted decrease in composite morbidity or mortality (OR 0.61, 95% CI, 0.47-0.79). Although hospital costs increased after implementation, the protocol increased health care–related value by 38%.Conclusion Implementation of a protocol consisting of an eGMS paired with a cardiac surgery–specific endocrinology consult service was associated with improved glycemic control and reduced morbidity. Despite higher costs health care–related value increased as a result of eGMS implementation.

As of June 2005, Hispanics comprised 41.3 million of the 294 million total U.S. population--one-seventh of all those living in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Also, [...]

Type in "contact lenses" on your favorite search engine, and within seconds, your screen is invaded by a barrage of discount mail-order contact lens companies. On Google, this search brings [...]

When approached by his publisher (Elsevier) to do a third edition of Manual of Contact Lens Prescribing and Fitting with CD-ROM, optometrist Milton M. Hom, of Azusa, Calif., was reluctant. [...]

When asked to discuss a case involving premium lenses and add-ons, optician Amy King talks about a female patient who came in for an eye exam and then chose to [...]

Optometrist Elisa Perreault literally started out in the basement and worked her way up. Six-and-a-half years ago, Dr. Perreault purchased a practice in the lower level of a professional building, [...]