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Counselling is one area of healthcare which provides many communicative techniques which are useful when dealing with anxious and fearful patients. Interestingly, the role of the optometrist can often shift from 'problem-solver' to 'counsellor' when delivering bad news to a patient. Within the role of eye care practitioner, optometrists are intrinsically problem-solvers. The patient makes an appointment with the optometrist because they have a perceived problem. By the end of the appointment, the patient would like the optometrist to have identified and rectified this problem. However, there are occasions when the practitioner is either unable to rectify the problem or the solution is not to the patient's satisfaction ie the optometrist delivers 'bad news'. The optometrist now moves from 'problem-solver' to 'counsellor'. In this scenario many patients will bottle up their emotions, and while releasing them is healthy, many optometrists are not comfortable or feel inadequately trained to deal with the raw emotions that are released. Therefore, the aim of this article is to show how some of the skills used in counselling can be applied to day-to-day optometric practice which will benefit both the patient and the optometrist.
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