BLOG: The child’s first look
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Before I was in medical school, I spent time volunteering in a hospital emergency room.
Of all the lessons I learned, none left a greater impression than seeing how a tiny bit of time spent by a doctor can have a lifelong impact on a patient. And, compared to our adult patients, how much more impressionable are the children who come to our practices, whether as patients or as visitors? In the short time they are exposed to us practitioners, we can change their lives and our world.
Even the youngest child can look through the slit lamp at the eyes of a family member, and we should take every opportunity to encourage them to do so. Take time to adjust the oculars’ interpupillary distance, so the child has a chance to see binocularly. Watch as they look through and see their facial expressions convey so much wonder when the iris first comes into focus. Its writhing crevices are like a magical landscape to be explored as the beam plays across the pupil. And what better time is there to tell the child how every day at work, you get to use your instruments and your own eyes, hands and brain to help people see and live better. To become an eye doctor, all the child needs to do is take school seriously, especially the sciences.
Without a doubt, this small investment of time will bring a smile to your face. Without a doubt, that parent will be a referral source forever. And without a doubt, at some point, you will influence some child to one day go into the visual sciences.
Think back to what influenced you to pick eye care as a specialty. For me, it was being a patient of an ophthalmologist as a young child. (And that ophthalmologist, Conrad Giles, whom I’ve blogged about before, still practices today!) Whatever influenced you to choose eye care, chances are it was a big impression that came from an otherwise inconsequential event, but one where you recognized how captivating the visual system is. For most of us, being eye care practitioners is a joy every day, and what better action can we take than sharing that joy by giving a child his or her first look.
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