At Retina Specialists Northwest in Federal Way, Washington, founder Brenda Myers-Powell, MD, PhD, says that her chief goal has always been to achieve “compassionate excellence” for her patients. She shares a few guiding principles she’s learned over the years.

• Consider happiness a goal. “More often than not, we’re delivering less-than-good news to our patients, but we always want them to feel hopeful. We don’t want them feeling disheartened and burdened every time they have an appointment at our practice. It’s possible to encourage hope and positivity in an efficient patient visit by being attentive and caring.”

• Know your patient. “In my practice, a skilled ophthalmic assistant takes the patient histories and passes them along to me. At the same time, my scribe presents me with the preliminary workup data. By the time I enter the exam room, I know that basic data, as well as how the patient uses her eyes. We talk about activities and lifestyles. I acknowledge that I understand her complaints and allow her to describe the problem. All of these encounters build a foundation of understanding. We want people to know that we care for them as a whole and we understand their vision disturbances. We do that with a smooth transition of information.”

• Make each patient a center of attention. “When I’m with my patients, they get my full focus. I’m not spending time looking at the computer, I’m talking to them and performing their exam. And during our conversation, I explain that in fact, I’m part of the team of doctors committed to their care. I tell them, ‘We’ll be seeing a good deal of each other for a while. I’m part of a team that includes your primary care physician and other specialists, and we’re all focused not just on your eye, but on your overall health and wellbeing.’”

• Be extra thoughtful. "Customer service is important. I want patients to feel welcomed, appreciated and cared for. We can do that by showing them extra courtesies. My staff tries to open every door for patients, escort them to the exam room and put the footrest up or down. If patients have to wait, a staff member apologizes and offers them water or tea. Again, many of these patients have serious retina problems. It’s well worth the small amount of time it takes to make their

When Dr. Myers-Powell hires her staff, she explains to them that “compassionate excellence” is the practice’s motto for a very specific reason: to buoy patients’ sense of hope and positivity, thereby giving them the best chance to deal with a difficult health problem. As she leads by example during the exam and treatments, her staff makes sure that the rest of the visit reinforces the practice ideal.