The Future Will See You Now – Brian Tompkins
23rd December 2020
Few of us will be sorry to see the back of 2020. This was supposed to be OUR year. The year our carefully-crafted ‘2020 Vision’ became a reality, the year we finally got people talking about eye health.
It’s hard not to feel somewhat robbed by the events that have unfolded. Our spell in the spotlight has, after all, been snatched out of our hand by a rampaging global pandemic that cares not a jot for our date-based marketing campaigns.
COVID-19 has affected every single one of us in one way or another and will be remembered for generations to come. Fast forward a few decades and there’s a very real chance that the number ‘2020’ will no longer be associated with vision, instead it will be forever known as ‘the year of coronavirus’.
But while the past nine months or so have not gone the way any of us could have envisaged, it has shone a light on the stoicism, adaptability and resilience within our profession.
By being creative, by evolving and by embracing the technology available to us, we have found a way.
That willingness to engineer solutions to ever-changing problems will stand us in good stead for 2021 and opens a window to what might be possible over the next 12 months.
Given the events that have preceded us, it may be foolhardy to dust off the crystal ball just now but looking ahead to what may lay in store can give us a welcome sense of direction.
The advances in telemedicine as a result of the pandemic have been as effective as they have been sudden. The speed at which both practices and patients have adapted to this change has perhaps taken many of us by surprise.
Something which may have been seen as a few years away from being reality is now part and parcel of everyday practice, with patients relishing the prospect of remote consultations, sending in their own smartphone images and getting clear and concise advice within minutes. It’s better for them, it’s better for us and it’s here to stay.
The current AOS software we are using is proving to be a genuine game-changer for the way the practice is run and we expect this to evolve and develop further in the months and years to come.
We are only just scraping the surface of what this kind of technology can allow us to do and we’re looking forward to future versions, enhancements and upgrades to take us to an even higher level of patient interaction.
“Come in, the future will see you now.”
By Brian Tompkins – Owner, TK&S Optometrists