EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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24 Ophthalmology Business • September 2018 by Lauren Lipuma, Ophthalmology Business Contributing Writer How to manage harassment in your practice can be a perpetrator and anyone can be a victim of sexual harassment— both men and women as well as practice staff, patients, visitors, and vendors. "The tolls of sexual harassment can be monumental," Dr. Piso said. "We know that when it's going on, it erodes staff trust and respect for the practice. If you're not stopping it, you're giving tacit approval." Any person, whether staff, pa- tient, visitor, or other, who experi- ences harassment in your practice becomes a negative ambassador to your brand, which can hurt the flow of referrals to your practice and ability to attract and retain the best available talent, he said. nia, a licensed psychologist and med- ical consultant, described the various types of harassment and interperson- al boundary violations that can occur in a medical practice. Dr. Piso also offered pearls of wisdom for becom- ing more adept at managing such violations, including how to create cultural safeguards that help prevent these violations from occurring. "We can do a lot of things that make a fun, friendly, warm environ- ment, as long as we know where the boundaries lie and what the conse- quences are," Dr. Piso said. A recent study by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commis- sion (EEOC) found that 25% to 85% of women report having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. Dr. Piso noted, however, that anyone Expert discusses ways to manage violations and create cultural safeguards that help prevent them from occurring W orkplace sexual harassment is becoming more widely recognized, and when it happens in a medical practice it can lead to potentially devastating lawsuits, destroy staff morale, and tarnish a practice's rep- utation, according to an expert who presented at the 2018 ASCRS•ASOA Annual Meeting. Craig Piso, PhD, president, Piso and Associates, Larksville, Pennsylva- continued on page 26