The Landing Stage

Opthalmologists need far more than professional knowledge, more important even than their training and experience — because what they actually need the foremost are the very best tools of the trade to help them get answers as promptly as they can. Let us examine a trio of major pieces of equipment — revolving around diagnosis, the comfort of your patients, and storage and accessibility, and key points to keep in mind when purchasing each, be they new, used, refurbished or remanufactured.

Non-contact, dynamic contour, applanation, handheld disposable, and pocket models are among the many different styles of tonometer on the market and essential for the measurement of intraocular pressure. You may favor any one style or employ a selection of models to meet your needs. Of course, you’ll want to work exclusively with top-notch quality tonometers, so be smart when purchasing. Diagnosis becomes significantly easier if you have both precision and ease of use with this class of optometry equipment.

There is nothing more frustrating than problems trying to position the patient at the right angle for a full exam, and because every patient is different, this is not easy. This means, choosing the right examination chairs is just as much about being comfortable as about flexibility. Fully adjustable exam chairs are capable of raising or lowering even the largest patient until they’re at the correct height. The patient needs to be supported by his examination chair to make his diagnosis as comfortable as possible. Long examinations will prove this to be especially critical. The equipment you have needs to be stored, and ideally in a place offering easy access when you require it. Generally this necessitates a treatment cabinet with certain essential features: secure locks, leveling glides for unsteady flooring, and the like. Such cabinets are easy to relocate to whichever part of your practice currently requires what they hold and to store everything else you’ll find that you use. Remember to buy a cabinet which will not be too bulky for easy re-deployment. treatment cabinets, examination chairs, and tonometers are just three pieces of ophthalmic equipment which can affect how well you can do your job and to what degree of efficiency. So, before you shop, make sure you know your exact requirements. Inaccurate tools will very likely stymie you, but the easier to handle and the more effective your instrumentation the better your performance in practice. You’ll find yourself simply stunned by how much smoother the right equipment can make your practice… Thus, the gear purchase decisions you undertake will be bound to have considerable influence on your performance in your job as a whole, and particularly on the long term development of the overall practice.