Eyeworld

24 | EYEWORLD | JUNE/JULY 2020 N EWS COVID-19 NEWS YOU CAN USE friends have to wait in the car, unless the patient is a minor or incapacitated in some way," she said. Dr. Loh said she planned on admitting few- er patients to the clinic at a given time, direct- ing them immediately to an exam room where they remain for the duration of the clinic visit. Patients will be questioned regarding various COVID-19 symptoms and exposure prior to admittance. Dr. Loh said that while the economy will slowly reopen, she thinks there will be some hesitancy among patients to rush back into surgery. "Some patients will be very eager for surgery, but I think it's going to be offset by patients who don't feel ready yet on a personal level," she said. "It will go from zero to surgery, so that will be somewhat of a surge, but I don't think it will be numbers we can't handle for the next couple of months." Dr. Loh plans to maintain the telehealth practice she established in the pandemic for the short-term and perhaps long-term future. "I don't think it will be a majority of the practice, but I think there will be some. If someone in the future wants to do it, I'll be happy to do it," she said Will we ever go back to pre-January 2020? Dr. Loh said this generation and the next will likely always have a heightened awareness of infection. She said the importance of infection control and enhanced hygiene won't go away. She also said she thinks the social stigma of wearing masks in the U.S. will be reduced. As a physician, Dr. Loh said she had already avoided shaking hands with patients, preferring to greet them warmly with a wave when she entered the room, but she said she's definitely "going to think twice about handshaking in the future." "I don't know if we're ever going to feel 100% comfortable like we did in January 2020," she said. hands and hug. The reason why is that I wash my hands and I don't touch my face; I use hand sanitizer before and after I see patients. Basic hygiene and masks are paramount," Dr. Fram said. Dr. Fram said she might not be hugging pa- tients in the near future, but she thinks it is im- portant to have a greeting that shows warmth. "As a society, we're going to have to figure out what that looks like," she said. Dr. Fram also said she hopes that the pan- demic elevates those in the medical profession from a societal value as well as from a reim- bursement standpoint. "Maybe our government and insurance companies will value what we're doing for patients and not make continual cuts every year to the work that we do. We won't be able to practice and afford PPE if they reimburse us $40 to see a patient. … We have to be revalued as a profession," Dr. Fram said. Finally, Dr. Fram thinks home testing and diagnostic equipment will become a bigger arena over time. "It's going to be fascinating to see what happens to decrease the number of patients who have to come through the office and im- prove between-visit monitoring," Dr. Fram said. Jennifer Loh, MD Loh Ophthalmology Associates Miami, Florida When Dr. Loh spoke with EyeWorld on April 22, monitoring national and local news as well as guidance put out by medical societies, she said she was a couple of weeks from open- ing her practice beyond the urgent cases and telehealth visits she had been seeing. Elective surgery, per an executive order from Florida's governor, couldn't start until at least May 8. Even though she was ready to start reopen- ing, Dr. Loh didn't think her practice would be "normal." "All of my staff are required to wear masks at all times. We're working actively to get more PPE, and we're also going to require that all patients wear masks in the office. We're going to maintain the protocol where family members or continued from page 23

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