Editorial
We all spend our days in the office answering the many questions presented to us by our patients, their parents or other concerned relatives. What to say and how we say it will determine how well the suggestions we make for treatment are ultimately carried out and, therefore, how successful we will be in treating our patients. Much of what we ask for can only be done by others, the patient and/or his/her caregiver. Patching is the most obvious example. We know it will help improve vision in the young amblyopic patient, but can only ask the parent to do it in spite of the obvious reluctance of the child. “It is easy for me to say, but difficult for you to do” is my common explanation to the parent. This year’s combined symposium deals with ways to talk to parents and things to say that are the result of years of experience of the authors. I know you will find it interesting!
In a similar vein, Dr. Kivlin’s paper, “Improving Patient Satisfaction in Pediatric Ophthalmology” points out that there are two patients and two “treaters” that have to be satisfied in our field. The patient and the parent must buy into our suggestions for treatment, or for that matter, for no treatment, if they are to be fully satisfied. In this modern age of HMOs and contracted medical care, patient satisfaction has become a by-word and must be attended to and, if possible, measured. Dr. Kivlin suggests a number of ways to look at this problem and makes good suggestions as to how to improve satisfaction in our patients.
We are very pleased with the variety of the papers in this volume and especially pleased with the high caliber of the authors submitting these papers. Dr. Del Monte’s experience with Thyroid Eye Disease, Dr Ken Nischal’s work with Craniofacial Disorders along with Ms Arnoldi’s paper on “Long-Term Surgical Outcome of Partially Accommodative Esotropia” reflect their own long experience in dealing with these conditions. I know you will find their discussion to be useful to your own practices.
You will notice a new name among the names on the list of Editors of the Journal. Mr. Jason DeBoer has been named as our Managing Editor. This is a new position this year and has already begun to show its value. Mr. DeBoer has had similar experience as a Managing Editor at Northwestern University and brings a great deal of experience and enthusiasm to the Journal. He will be working with UW Press managers on a variety of projects including marketing and advertising and will be directly involved with the preparation of the journal. You will, no doubt, be hearing from him regarding submission of papers to the Editorial Board for review, suggestions for revisions, etc. I am very happy to have him working with us! Please let him know if he can be helpful to you in your dealings with the Journal or the UW Press.
The AOJ website (www.aoj.org) continues to be a popular site and we encourage all to visit and use it to search for papers in AOJ as well as to visit other sites of interest to orthoptists, pediatric ophthalmologists, and strabismologists.