EyeWorld Asia-Pacific September 2014 Issue

38 EWAP CAtArACt/IOL September 2014 car and after driving it off the dealership lot discovered there was an option to purchase the same vehicle but with heated seats, separate climate control for passengers and driver, a remote starter, or any other accessory or feature that you would find desirable yet didn’t know about at the time you committed to your purchase. You wouldn’t be happy and you certainly wouldn’t consider the person you had worked with to be a good car salesperson. This would not have anything to do with the cost of the vehicle and everything to do with a poor educational process at the dealership. It’s likely on this basis alone that you would tell others not to use the dealership. The relevance of the above to educating patients about cataract surgery options should be obvious. It is clearly the ophthalmologist’s responsibility to let patients know about what choices they have when considering cataract surgery. Describing the different choices that patients have at the time of cataract surgery is NOT selling—it is educating the patient and vitally An apology - from page 37 important. From the above it is clear that the car salesperson performs a helpful and useful function by educating the consumer about the different features and options of the vehicle they are purchasing. No one would consider this in a negative fashion. Why then do car salespeople have such a poor reputation? I believe it has nothing to do with this educational process but instead is related to what happens during the negotiating of the purchase price of the vehicle. In part two of this article, “Putting the cart before the horse: Educating vs. selling,” I’ll review how to avoid all the negative aspects of “selling” by focusing on educating patients about their options. EWAP Editors’ note: Dr. Tipperman is affiliated with the Wills Eye Institute, Philadelphia, Pa, U.S. He has no financial interests related to this article. Contact information tipperman: rtipperman@mindspring.com DATE MEETing VEnUE 2015 January 10-11 3rd Biennial Scientific Meeting of Indonesian Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (INASCRS) www.inascrs.org/ Jakarta Indonesia February 5-8 73rd Annual Conference of All India Ophthalmology Society (AIOS) www.aios.org New Delhi India April 1-4 30th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress (APAO) www.apaophth.org/ Guangzhou China April 17-21 ASCRS-ASOA Symposium & Congress www.ascrs.org San Diego USA May 22-24 SNEC 25th Anniversary International Meeting www.snec.com.sg Singapore July 19-21 30th Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JSCRS) www.jscrs.org Tokyo Japan August 5-8 28th APACRS Annual Meeting www.apacrs.org Kuala Lumpur Malaysia September 5-9 XXXIII Congress of European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ESCRS) www.escrs.org Barcelona Spain November 14-17 Annual Meeting of American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) www.aao.org Las Vegas USA CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 2015