From a clearly defined patient journey and same-day visual field testing, to mastering the three-way handover, NICK GIDAS details five soft skills giving practices an edge to their customer service.
In today’s evolving healthcare landscape, staying across the latest developments in clinical care is essential, but it’s often our ‘soft skills’ that are most effective in influencing the health outcomes of our patients. Skills like communication, empathy, adaptability, teamwork and professionalism truly elevate our impact. These skills not only shape how we interact with our patients and colleagues but influence how we grow as individuals within our professions.
As the largest provider of eyecare services in Australia and New Zealand, Specsavers sees the encouraging results of these skills every day, which were recently reinforced as part of a tour of both nations delivering the ‘Trusted Experts’ series.
Here, I’ll share key takeaways from the series, highlighting the often-overlooked skills that can make the difference between good service and truly exceptional care. I will outline learnings from different experiences in the field, focusing on the soft skills that support professional growth, strengthen team dynamics, and enhance the overall patient experience.
Whether you’re an optometrist in the testing room or a dispenser on the shop floor, these insights can help you grow with confidence, purpose and professionalism and most importantly elevate your impact beyond the clinic, leading to improved patient health outcomes.
TAKEAWAY 1 – a clear patient journey
The reason we all turn up to work every day is to provide a crucial service to our patients – we protect and care for their eye health.
For patients to feel supported, we need to respect their time and attention and provide a clear experience of care that is easily understood. Eye health is personal and can sometimes be anxiety-inducing or stressful for patients. A smooth, thoughtful journey can help the patient feel comfortable, confident, and cared for.
In the Trusted Experts series, we work-shopped opportunities to use our soft skills to make patients feel cared for at different parts of the patient journey. Examples discussed were considering cultural safety and unconscious bias, acknowledging patients as soon as they walk into the store and knowing their name. Taking the time to explain the different aspects of the eye test – and why each is important – was also identified, along with consideration of any special requirements, for example speaking clearly if a patient has hearing loss.
TAKEAWAY 2 – truly understanding the patient
A key takeaway specific to optometrists was the importance of effectively understanding the lifestyle needs of each patient.
When a prescription is required, it is important the optometrist asks the right questions to ensure an optimal vision solution to meet that patient’s needs.
We invited optometrists to start with an open question to encourage the customer to explain their needs in their own words. After that, it is natural to follow up with more specific questions, which could be a combination of open and closed.
Optometrists could consider ‘The 4 Cs’: clarity, consistency, comfort and convenience to drive these questions.
These are built around a trust framework and prompt the optometrist to explore vision beyond just clarity, making the solutions and benefits relatable to patients.
Finally, as a result from patient feedback data, it was shared that optometrists should refrain from ‘leading’ questions as they may make a customer feel pressured and uncomfortable, as though we are trying to sell them something rather than provide a personalised solution to their vision and lifestyle needs.
TAKEAWAY 3 – The importance of teamwork
In a single appointment, patients are often cared for by multiple professionals. During this, their trust and care is being passed from person-to-person and if this isn’t smooth, patients can feel uncared for, forgotten or like they must repeat themselves.
At Specsavers, an optometrist most commonly receives a patient from a pre-tester and then after the eye test is complete, hands them over to a dispenser who assists them with any visual solutions.
The handover between the optometrist and the dispenser at the end of the eye test has been named the ‘three way handover’ because it requires equal input from the optometrist, dispenser and patient.
The Trusted Experts series showed that an effective three-way handover occurs while still in the testing room and consists of the optometrist introducing the patient to the dispenser, followed by explaining the patient’s management plan and lifestyle requirements. This ensures that vital information from the eye test is being passed over to the dispenser and, as a result, the patient should feel confident in the handover.
To enable this with every patient, effective clinic coordination is vital. Next, depending on the store set up, a process should be agreed upon where dispensers are supported to enter the testing room at the right moment to enable the three-way handover. This could include implementing a buzzer system where optometrists notify a dispenser to come into their room as they’re finishing an eye test. It could also include assigning dispensers to optometrists so everyone outside the testing room is clear on responsibilities.
Immediately after the three-way handover has taken place, the series taught us that it’s important for the dispenser to repeat and affirm the recommendations of the optometrist and highlight the lifestyle benefits discussed earlier as they complete the lens/frame dispense. This, again, makes the patient feel confident in the personalisation of their recommended solution. At Specsavers, we provide regular training sessions on the lens options and products in store so all team members are up-to-date and feel confident in their recommendations.
TAKEAWAY 4 – clear communication
In the series, we work-shopped the impact of clear communication on patient experience and looked at examples of language that makes patients feel supported and confident.
An example shared was the difference a clear and informed pre-tester can make in setting the tone for the appointment.
Our top three tips for pre-testers were: introduce yourself and know the patient’s name, signpost the different moments throughout the pre-test, clearly explaining what to expect and why each test occurs, and to avoid jargon.
A pre-tester’s goal is to capture the scans and information required for the optometrist while also ensuring the patient is as comfortable as possible. Taking a moment to explain what is being tested – and how important each test is for the optometrist – frames the process and reassures the patient they’re in expert hands.
Another example was the importance of clear communication during a glasses collection.
Here, dispensers could start by confirming the type of spectacles and their intended use. When handing over the glasses, it is effective to communicate that the frame fit will be assessed and personalised before checking vision. This helps manage expectations and prevents unnecessary worry or disappointment if their vision isn’t perfect straight away. We recommended dispensers talk to their customers professionally about what they’re doing while adjusting glasses, explaining what each change will have on their glasses and comfort.
TAKEAWAY 5 – valuing the patient’s time
Patients trust us with their time and out of respect we need to do all we can to eliminate wait periods and unnecessary return visits. This can be managed through effective clinic coordination and flexibility.
A common culprit for unnecessary wait times and return visits is when a visual field test is clinically indicated.
Many professionals may feel like it is easier to have the patient return at another time.
However, we have found performing a visual field test straight away in the same appointment helps to optimise the patient’s time in store, while obtaining all relevant clinical information the optometrist requires.
Further to this, we know that a third of patients who require a visual field do not return to have it if the test is not completed the same day. By failing to complete this test, we are not prioritising our patient’s eye health and risk missing early signs of eye conditions or potential vision loss.
Effective store coordination will improve patient experiences as well as create a happier work environment for your team. Specsavers uses a system which allows us to visualise the customer journey using live data. This allows the implementation of clinic changes, ensuring we are running a smooth clinic flow.
The final takeaway
As Australia’s most trusted eyecare organisation,1 Specsavers has spent a lot of time strengthening and empowering our professionals to lead with integrity and deliver service that goes beyond expectations, no matter where they sit in the patient journey.
While they may seem simple, we hope these takeaways are a helpful reminder of what should be implemented everyday in your profession.
By investing time and energy into practising these essential soft skills, we don’t just enhance performance, we contribute to a culture of care, consistency, and excellence.
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