Eyeworld

34 | EYEWORLD | DECEMBER 2020 ASCRS NEWS ASCRS leadership reflects on 2020 Our main practice and four satellite locations at Virginia Eye Consultants have been back online since the begin- ning of May. It took about 8 weeks for us to get close to 90% pre-COVID volume. There are unique challeng- es that we have prepared and accounted for, and this continues to evolve in order for us to meet the various challenges. There was some staff turnover, in part driven by personal challenges with childcare and virtual school- ing. I was surprised to see how quickly patient volume has recovered to almost pre- COVID volume. In order to respect social distancing and the extra disinfection proto- cols, more time has been built into the sched- ules between patients. In order to accommodate the patient volume, creative adjustments to the schedule are being made, which includes starting clinic earlier, minimizing breaks be- tween morning and afternoon patient clinics, sometimes ending later in the day, and changing follow-up appointment protocols. We turned our postop day 1 routine cataract surgery follow-up appointment into a virtual visit. This required a change to patient postop regimens, which now includes one dose of oral acetazolamide in the recovery room and the addition of brimonidine twice daily for 1 week after cataract surgery. Our threshold is very low for bringing patients back into clinic for any concerns of dispropor- tionate blurring of vision or pain. This has been hugely popular and well accepted, and we have not yet experienced any undue surprises at the postop week 1 visit. It is interesting to see what is driving the patient volume. The "mask" phenomenon is a real challenge for younger and older patients alike. The demand for LASIK evaluations has increased significantly because of spectacles fogging up from the masks. On a positive note, this has led to a greater pool of healthier ocular surface LASIK evaluation patients, specifically those who only wear spectacles and are not coming in due to contact lens intolerance issues. Furthermore, some patients whose days are spent on Zoom are aware and self-conscious of their appearance, including their desire to see themselves spectacle-free during video commu- nications. For older patients, real estate around the ear has become more crowded with the mask, spectacles, and the commonly utilized hearing aid. Additionally, the uncertainty of the near future with COVID-19, including vaccines and future waves of greater disease spread, has created a more palpable emotional undertone with patients. Some are extremely grateful for medical professionals, others have greater fear and anxiety, and others are downright angry. This has led to greater empathy exhaustion, and in general, staff and clinician morale is not as stable or as high as it was in 2019. We will have to do what we can to promote work harmony and mitigate burnout. I am hopeful that COVID will become a distant memory soon with effective vaccinations and treatment options. Until then, we will continue to adapt to our current reality. While we are taking care of a "more normal" routine patient volume now both medically and surgically, the next months will bring forth greater insight into this as the cold weather settles in. The same goes for live meeting opportunities. While virtual learning provides a convenience, nothing compares to the variety offered at onsite, live meetings with the networking, camaraderie, and varied forms of education platforms. While meetings may attempt to go live in early 2021, attendance will likely be low for at least the first half of the year. The first viable live meeting with a more "normal" attendance will likely be the 2021 ASCRS Annual Meeting in August. That can't come soon enough! Elizabeth Yeu, MD ASCRS Secretary continued on page 37

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