NOA 2023: Implementing myopia management into your practice

Video Transcript

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Emily Kaiser:
Hi, everyone. I'm Emily Kaiser with Optometry Times, and I'm sitting down with Dr Brianna Rhue who's presenting a course entitled, "Myopia Now and How" at the National Optometric Association 2023 annual convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Welcome, Dr Rhue, thanks for taking the time to talk to me.

Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS:
Thank you for having me, Emily.

Kaiser:
Happy to have you here. So first, can you tell me a little bit more about your presentation?

Rhue:
Yeah, so this is something that's really become a passion within my own practice. Graduating in 2009, we weren't really taught about myopia management. It is something that's fairly new, and something that we all see on a daily basis. I'm excited to share how I've implemented in clinics. It's not going to be this success theater [where] a lot of us kind of get up on stage, and we get intimidated. I just kind of bring newness to our patients [and] into our practices. So, that's what we're going to be talking about with myopia.

Kaiser:
That sounds really exciting. How do you hope to see this affect patient care once the convention is over?

Rhue:
So in our clinics, 70%, typically, are patients that have myopia. It's something that we see every single day, day in and day out. In my busy clinic schedule this morning, I had 4 of them, 2 being treated. What I hope to do is affect patient care or clinic care. You're seeing these patients already, and instead of seeing that patient, that has myopia, back in a year, maybe you're bringing them back in 6 months. Or, you're monitoring a child more closely that you wouldn't have been monitoring. It's really hoping to affect your clinical care, and how you're presenting myopia and then how you're treating it. Versus seeing that child back in a year, or starting them earlier on a treatment protocol, whether it's Atropine, soft multifocal contact lenses, or ortho-k, and how to bring that to your clinic.

Kaiser:
Fantastic. Do you have any specific takeaway points you'd like to drive home?

Rhue:
[The] takeaway point is that it's not hard to implement it, but you cannot dabble in myopia management. It is something that you really have to get your staff on board with, whether it's a program that you're implementing [or] a new treatment protocol. This goes from how your staff is answering the phone, to how you're presenting to the parents, to follow up care, or to evaluations that happen after the fact. And really just kind of teaching the mistakes that I've made along the way, that the practitioners don't have to make. That's just little seeds that you plant throughout your clinic on a daily basis. It's not this big social media campaign that you have to do [or] getting referrals. It's already within your practice, and you can really benefit patients and your practice by implementing myopia control.

Kaiser:
Fantastic. That sounds like a lovely presentation and thank you so much for taking the time to chat.