September 20, 2009
The First-Class Optometric Instrument 101
You’ll find you need more than knowledge and experience to make a living in this vocation. The opthalmology equipment you select to deploy is paramount, too, as these items will be decisive as regards how well you work. The desired equipment can be purchased remanufactured, used, refurbished, or new. Once that’s done, you’ll need to consider each item on an individual basis including tonometers, examination stools, and slit lamps in order to find the best selection for your practice. Non-contact, dynamic contour, applanation, pocket, and handheld disposable models are among the many different styles of tonometer on the market and necessary for measuring intraocular pressure. You can choose to use any style or utilize a combination of models which meet your requirements. The tonometers you select to use in your work need to be top quality. Such ophthalmic instruments make for a major improvement of diagnosis, particularly when proffering both ease of use and accuracy.
Make sure that despite patients’ measurements they are all able to spend their appointments without discomfort, and do so without giving up anything in terms of your ability to position patients effectively for an examination. Exam chairs are readily available on the market capable of supporting any patient, from the tallest to the shortest, and they can do so without the slightest discomfort in whatever position you prefer.
Your equipment must be stored away somewhere, and the best plan would be to store it somewhere offering easy access when you want it. The most straightforward system is a treatment cabinet that offers certain important characteristics; secure locks, leveling glides for use on uneven floors, and suchlike. These cabinets are easy to transport to whichever area within your practice needs what they contain and to hold the instruments you’ll find that you require. Remember to buy a cabinet which won’t be too cumbersome to maneuver about on the fly.
Your ability to do your job is determined partly by the instruments you utilize, namely your choice of treatment cabinet, tonometer, and exam chair. So be sure of what your exact requirements are (best to make a list) before you start your equipment purchase. Ill-designed instruments can only handicap your workflow, but the simpler to handle and the more accurate your gear the better you are likely to do. You’ll be rubbing your eyes, awed by how dead easy the right choice can make your practice. As a result, the instruments purchase decisions you make will have a considerable influence on your performance in your job, and, let’s remember, the survival of your overall practice.











