Software New Product Focus: Technology enhances patient education

Key Points

Leawood, KS-A new generation of patient education and practice enhancement software (LUMA, Eyemaginations) for eye-care professionals has been designed to enhance delivery of eye-care information and patient counseling throughout the practice.

He said that effective education and communication provide the foundation for establishing a positive provider-patient relationship and optimizing both clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

"The graphics and content of its videos make patient education engaging, entertaining, clear, and concise, and the interactive counseling tools augment what we could otherwise provide visually and verbally for educating patients and their families about diagnoses, surgical procedures, and optical products," he said. "By providing a unique educational experience, [it] helps to differentiate my practice, and that translates into increased patient retention and referrals."

Videos available to play in the waiting room deliver clear messages. In addition, the scheduler tool allows practices that use block or mixed scheduling for multispecialties to create a customized playlist targeting specific patient populations.

The ability to provide this "intelligent education" is a powerful advantage for the practice because it increases the likelihood that more patients will have some basic understanding of their condition and/or treatment options when they come back into the examination area, and it also offers marketing possibilities.

Based on unsolicited feedback, patient impressions of the waiting room films have been very positive, Dr. Doane said.

"During the 13 years I have been in private practice, few patients have commented about the educational videos playing in the waiting room," he said.

"With [this program] I've had patients tell me the movies are incredible and one older woman noted she wished we'd turn up the volume," he continued. "This remark tells me she was fully engaged."

The one-on-one counseling feature (Exam Advisor) provides advanced interactive education. This software is designed with animations and a "point-of-view" drawing program (Active Canvas) where the physician or other patient counselor can use a digital marker to draw on the screen over the video or anatomic animation. By showing the consequences of progression of different pathologies, patients gain a better understanding of their condition and how their vision can worsen. The drawing option enhances the educator's ability to customize the information for each patient.