I very much enjoyed reading ‘The plight of the employed OO’ by an anonymous practitioner in a recent edition of Optician, as it is always interesting to hear an alternative viewpoint. But without wishing to sound critical, I couldn’t help but sense a small element of ‘multiple bashing’ in the article.
Despite the commercial pressures we all face, the author seemed to give off the impression that practices like shortening appointment times or sales-based incentives for staff were not accepted by independents. It may be that all their costs are covered solely by the eye examination fee, and therefore selling spectacles and contact lenses is purely supplementary - but I doubt it.
The article did remind me though of a great quote by super-investor Warren Buffett who said: ‘What the human being is best at doing, is interpreting all the new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.’
It was this that led me to consider my own practice and the effect that ‘confirmation bias’ can have on the things we believe and the actions we take, day in day out. Confirmation bias is the mother of all misconceptions, the tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with our existing theories, beliefs and convictions.
One of the advantages of being part of a large group is that we are constantly challenged to find new and better ways of looking after our patients. Being in a select community where we share best practice and tips on how to improve the service we provide is fantastic. It does not however protect us against our own ‘confirmation bias’.
It can still be very challenging to hear a new idea or concept and not immediately dismiss it out of hand. ‘It won’t work for us’ or ‘My patients wouldn’t like that’ are often difficult to overcome. We not only have preconceptions but also prejudices to overcome in order to see things in an objective light.
It may be that the first incorrect refraction that a practitioner sees from the new opticians around the corner, reinforces beyond any doubt that they are cowboys!!! They’re not ‘proper’ opticians - they wont affect us!
Charles Darwin from his youth set out systematically to fight confirmation bias. Whenever observations contradicted his theory, he wrote them down and investigated them thoroughly. He knew that the brain actively forgets disconfirming evidence after a very short time.
With demands on our time in practice increasing almost daily, we look for more ways to increase efficiency, improve clinically, technically and commercially. Perhaps a few minutes reconsidering the evidence we consigned to the bin so easily is not such a waste of time?