BUSINESS SKILLS FOR OPHTHALMOLOGISTS

For €300 (early registration) ophthalmologists and healthcare professionals working in the ophthalmic industry can have access to one of the top business brains from the world-renowned London Business School.

Keith Willey Bsc, MBA is presenting a Masterclass at the ESCRS Practice Development Weekend in Dublin which takes place from October 5-8 in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

As an added bonus, the registration fee will gain delegates admission to a series of workshops from other top marketing and management consultants. A gala dinner is also included with the registration fee.

This will be the second ESCRS Practice Development Weekend hosted by the ESCRS outside its main congress following last year’s inaugural event in Dublin.

One of the challenges facing ESCRS in developing its Practice Development Programme is to cater for ophthalmologists of all ages from different countries. “Ophthalmologists are a diverse group but as soon as they launch their own private practices they share many important challenges,†said Prof Willey, who will present his workshop on Saturday October 6. “Success as an entrepreneur requires an understanding of the nature of entrepreneurship and the imagination to pursue an enterprise beyond what they can support with their current skills, organisation and finances,†he told EuroTimes.

Prof Willey said his ESCRS Masterclass aims to provide the impetus, insights and framework for ophthalmologists to plan a successful future. “Above all it provides surgeons and their practice managers with a way to develop their own commercial judgement based on an understanding of business and the special considerations affecting an owner-managed entity,†he said.

Practice building

On the opening day of the Practice Development Weekend on Friday October 5, Arthur Cummings of the Wellington Eye Clinic and Kris Morrill of Medeuronet will give a workshop on Building Refractive Practices. “Cataract-age patients increasingly approach cataract surgery with an expectation for outstanding visual results following surgery; which means that cataract surgeons and their staff need to ensure that they match those expectations,†said Ms Morrill. “This workshop will discuss the areas where surgeons should focus in order to make this happen,†she said.

Social media

The final workshop, which is on social media, takes place on Sunday October 7. “Social media is a relatively new marketing channel and its use in mainstream healthcare, while limited, is growing faster than almost any other media channel. Today Internet users spend three times more minutes on blogs and social networks than on email,†workshop presenter Rod Solar of LiveseySolar Practice Builders said.

Mr Solar’s workshop will show delegates how to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Blogging in order to increase marketing effectiveness, increase customer satisfaction and reduce marketing costs.

* Early Bird Registration is now open. For more information visit: www.escrs.org/practice-development/dublin2012.