As an optical professional it is your responsibility to ensure all your patients feel comfortable in your practice and care. For children, stepping into your practice can be daunting due to the new equipment, people, and rapid-fire questions. An unpleasant experience for a child can create anxiety around future healthcare appointments. To try and reduce this potential stress for younger patients, we’ve put together some advice and guidance on how to make your practice child friendly.
1. Team members
From the booking stage, your receptionist can book children’s appointments at less busy times in the practice and if the patient is very young the best time for these calls are before lunch, in case the appointment takes a bit longer than expected. By booking these appointments at less busy times the receptionist is also able to speak directly to the child and relax them rather than hurry and stress them. At the time of booking it’s important to note the child’s age as this allows staff time to prepare as they would for an older patient.
2. Practice layout
It’s advised to have your practice well stocked with colouring in books, toys, and children’s books about sight tests. To ensure children feel included in the process of sight tests and should they need glasses the choosing of them. You can do this by having children’s frames and mirrors at the correct browsing height for them to see themselves.
3. During the sight test
If the young patient is feeling uneasy about the sight test it often helps to demonstrate what you will be doing on their parent, guardian, or soft toy, To help reduce stress for both parent, guardian and child make sure they’re seated together in case the child becomes unsettled. During the sight test, it’s important to think on your feet to make the environment as calm as possible. We’ve heard of some opticians who have streamed children’s TV favourites like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol during their visits for familiar background noise.
4. After the sight test
If the young patient requires glasses or treatment after the test, it is important to involve them in the process. Ask their opinion on the frames available for them and what they like and don’t like. By regularly communicating to the child this contributes to an overall positive experience for them and also their parent or guardian.
If you are a newly registered optician you might think treating children can be challenging. By following this advice we hope it guides and inspires you to thinking of other ways to make younger patients optical experience calming. If you're interested in finding available shifts to put this advice into practice click here.