KEY SKILLS AND INSIGHT

The ESCRS Practice Management and Development Committee, chaired by Dr Paul Rosen, is finalising its programme for the XXXIV Congress of the ESCRS, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from September 10–14, 2016.
The Practice Management sessions will be held on Sunday, September 11 and Monday, September 12. On Sunday there will be a full-day Practice Management and Development masterclass, which will allow delegates to focus on key issues that affect their practices.
This is an interactive session where delegates are encouraged to talk directly about the issues that affect their practices and solutions to problems that they face on a day-to-day basis.

STEP-BY-STEP
The session on Monday will focus on practice management and marketing. The session will open with a presentation on “Starting a practice” from Dr Ludger Hanneken, Germany, who will discuss the challenges of setting up a practice. 
In this session, he will outline step-by-step what ophthalmologists need to do from the day they decide to go into private practice until the day they open their doors to patients for the first time.
As part of this module, Ed Toland, Ireland, and Kris Morrill, France, will also discuss “How to create, and use, a living business plan”. 
“Business plans do not need to be hundreds of pages long. In this session we will explain how to create and use a short presentation with achievable, measurable goals,” said Ms Morrill.
Ms Morrill will also make a presentation on “A job for life”, where she will discuss how the staff who help you grow your business and who themselves grow with your business are the biggest assets that any practice can have.

CHALLENGES
One of the biggest challenges facing doctors these days is engaging with social media. Caroline Anderson, ESCRS social media manager, will discusss how ophthalmologists should use Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to attract patients to their practices.
The Practice Management sessions are free of charge and open to all delegates attending the XXXIV Congress of the ESCRS.
The full progamme, when complete, will be available on the ESCRS website at: www.escrs.org