Summer is a Peak Time to Engage Parents of Your Pediatric Patients!  

Summer has arrived and that can mean some seasonal changes for your eye care practice, especially those that see families or have a pediatric focus. Summer can be a busy time for families, but it can also be a busy time for your practice. These tips will help your practice thrive this summer.

1 | Send Out Reminders

Patients and their families can have their minds on their upcoming family vacation, but summer can also be the easiest time to see pediatric patients, as you aren’t having to try and schedule around school and soccer practice schedules. Despite how busy families are during the summer, schedules are often more flexible. So take advantage of this and send out reminders to patients about scheduling their family’s annual eye exams. Getting their vision checked prior to the start of a new school year can help their kids get off on the right foot! 

Try these methods for reminding patients to schedule an eye exam for the whole family: 

• Send an email reminder
• Send a text reminder
• Post about it on social media
• Write a blog on the importance of eye exams before school and share it widely on your social platforms

2 | Be Prepared for Scheduling Shifts

As mentioned above, most school-aged children are accommodated with appointments after 3:00 p.m. during the school year. But you’ll need to shift your scheduling to accommodate kids throughout the day during summer break. 

If you haven’t already:

• Revisit scheduling slots specifically for pediatric exams and follow ups.
• Train your front desk team to prioritize time blocks for school-aged patients that may have extended availability during the day.
• Consider extending hours or adding weekend availability during peak weeks. 

3 | Staff Up

To help you handle the summer rush, staff up! 

Consider these options:

• Hire temporary seasonal hires or part-time help such as optometry or pre-med students as technicians, or by working with a temp staffing agency. 
• Use weekly staff meetings to review protocols and reinforce consistency in communication to ensure everyone is aligned on procedures, messaging, and patient education, specifically around family and pediatric eye health. 
• Stock up on cold water in case patients are coming in from outdoor activities in the summer heat. 

4 | Normalize the Conversation Around Myopia Control

Simply talking about myopia control with every eligible patient, and making these conversations routine, can be one of your most powerful strategies. 

Here’s how to make these conversations more routine:

• Don’t wait for patients to ask. Instead, proactively introduce myopia control as the standard of care.
• Share success stories and patient testimonials to build trust. (This can be done both in the exam room and through digital reinforcement by sharing these stories in your online channels.)
• Remember that parents are often willing to invest in their child’s long-term vision health, especially when they understand the benefits of treatment. So take time to explain the treatments and their benefits to parents. 

Key Takeaways

Taking care of your pediatric patients and their families is rewarding, but can be challenging to juggle the shifts in scheduling and having conversations about myopia management. With the right preparation and tactics, your practice can thrive during the summer surge while also growing your myopia control program, deepening patient relationships.