What does professionalism mean for a health practitioner? I’ll start by defining it as the practice of an activity by a professional who has standards of clinical competence to meet. For example, as a dispensing optician (DO) your standards include, but are not limited to:
- taking into account the physical, emotional, intellectual and cultural background of the patient
- providing advice on eye safety and protection
- appropriately recommending and making available subsidies to patients with entitlements.
There are numerous benefits, both personally and organisationally, to maintaining a professional standard. You’ll gain a better reputation, which can contribute to less stress, increased productivity and greater harmony within the team. You’ll also help create more efficient operations and increase business opportunities. With just 240 registered DOs across the 5.33 million population in New Zealand, it’s likely you will have colleagues in common – so reputation is vital! Some old clichés remain relevant, such as: it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but only minutes to destroy it.
These and other benefits come from your professional behaviour, thus improving workplace relationships for the overall team within the practice and for business in general. Reflect on not having an effective network or others to contribute to your daily routine of dispensing – how successful would that be? Building from this understanding, you can further develop your confidence as a role model.
One main skill is adjusting your interpersonal style for the practice’s culture, suggesting you are aware of your customers’ diversity. However, your style should always be friendly and offer the same high quality of products and service to everyone who walks through your door.
When displaying positive attributes, you gain and maintain the trust and confidence of others within the practice and those associated or linked to it. Earning the trust of those around you reinforces confidence in your competence and strengthens relationships with colleagues, customers and suppliers.
Dealing with workplace difficulties
There will be times when workplace difficulties are unavoidable. Workplace conflict can be an unproductive clash between staff members, a staff member and supplier or a customer and staff member, from which one or more parties takes offence. How you react makes the difference.
There should be an understanding of appropriate approaches to resolving difficulties. Some suggestions:
- Provide clear guidelines and measurable outcomes, ensuring staff members know what is expected.
- Offer adequate, timely feedback.
- Make training and resources available.
- Open lines of communication and provide support in a non-threatening, inclusive environment.
- Encourage collaborative problem solving.
- Recognise the issues and identify the parties involved.
- Record firsthand facts of the issue being raised and discuss it with the parties concerned.
If you can, try to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of all involved. If no solution can be reached, refer the matter to an appropriate person of responsibility – don’t just attribute blame and do nothing about it.
Personal and practice presentation counts
A professional DO recognises their personal presentation and body language are critical. In a recent Optical Dispensers Australia webinar, George & Matilda Eyecare’s Jennifer Blackwell explained that customers primarily expected well-kept nails and clean shoes from their dispensers.
Similarly, discussions between staff members are critical – customers hear and see more than you might imagine. So handle products with care (not making adjustments within the customer’s view), use the latest technology for dispensing measurements and ensure a professional three-way handover.
Equally, practice presentation is vital. Some things just become a part of the furniture, so you need to continuously look with fresh eyes to ensure the practice, frames and point of sale are all clean and presented at their best. That means ensuring all frame displays are free of dust and clutter (even the tops of the displays, for your taller patients!), the point-of-sale materials are current, relevant and not faded and the frame displays are merchandised appropriately and in standard alignment.
Finally, consider the patient experience – when they return after a couple of years for their recall, will the practice be largely the same, will the stock be similar and will you be wearing the same uniform? Or is it a fresh, exciting new experience with the same professional service? How you show up makes a huge difference.
