Change is difficult, and it usually necessitates effort, struggle, and the challenge of those who are dragging their feet around us. Annual reflection is a good way to stay current, push the boundaries, and provide better patient care. Try these tips to help your practice thrive, whether you have a long-standing specialty contact lens practice or are looking to expand into more specialty areas.

With the time-consuming requirements of managed care, it can be difficult to personally provide the education needed to set patients up for success in managing their retinal diseases. With that in mind, here are some suggestions for efficiently providing this necessary education.

Should COVID continue to be treated differently than other respiratory viruses? CDC and ID physicians note that COVID is more highly transmissible than other URIs we have more history with, and the outcomes of severe illness and long COVID are important differences as well. And the US is still seeing some 300 deaths per day from COVID.

In a study of 844,000 children and adolescents without prior COVID infection, vaccine effectiveness was approximately 61% in children and 67% in adolescents versus the delta variant, but only approximately 16% and 26%, respectively, versus omicron.

Some experts responded to the recently published study, stating that “These authors have been pushing back against treating COVID as airborne for 3 years,” and that the study “will be used to justify policies of supplying healthcare workers … with inadequate protection.”

The pandemic has caused doctors stress, financial loss, and other issues, (approximately 8% of doctors (representing about 16,000 practices) closed their doors in 2020), but physician dissatisfaction with the profession has been an issue for years. According to a 2018 survey, 54% of those polled were thinking about retiring in the next five years (including 30% of those under 50). Why? What are the primary reasons that so many doctors want to retire?