The publication where ODs and MDs meet
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR
At 12:01 am on August 1, 1981, a new communications medium made its way into American living rooms. The long-standing institutions of AM and FM radio were challenged—and challenged hard—when MTV launched. Music videos had arrived.
We have seen immense changes in the ways music is delivered and consumed since the days of radio. The evolution started with vinyl, and moved to 8-track and cassette tapes, then to compact discs. The portability of MP3 files and the accessibility of the internet meant that music files could fly from user to user. Nowadays, we rely on streaming music to our smartphones.
With new technologies come new opportunities. In many ways, the packaging of educational resources in eye care has mirrored the evolution of music delivery modes.
Without a doubt, Bryn Mawr Communications (BMC) has the strongest online platform and vehicle to deliver the highest quality medical information and education. What you may not know is that BMC has tremendous experience in both print and online publications in medical disciplines outside of eye care, including cardiology, neurology, dermatology, and aesthetics.
At the start of 2018, BMC’s medical specialty suite will include 11 print publications and two online publications; four of the print publications and both of the digital publications will be dedicated to eye care. With all this experience, BMC has learned a thing or two about its readers:
- AOC’s sister publication—the all-digital publication MillennialEYE—is a preferred forum of discussing matters that concern progressive ophthalmologists;
- Readers increasingly demand digital aspects (and access) to BMC’s publications;
- Progressive (and, generally, younger) ophthalmic surgeons want to work hand-in-hand with progressive (and, generally, younger) optometrists to provide the best possible patient experiences and outcomes.
That final point is important. A look at the most successful eye care practices in the developed world reveals a pattern of collaboration among eye care providers with different scopes of training. The American Medical Association’s comment on collaborative care notes that:
teams that collaborate effectively can enhance the quality of care for individual patients. By being prudent stewards and delivering care efficiently, teams also have the potential to expand access to care for populations of patients. Such teams are defined by their dedication to providing patient-centered care, protecting the integrity of the patient-physician relationship, sharing mutual respect and trust, communicating effectively, sharing accountability and responsibility, and upholding common ethical values as team members.1
The team at BMC believes not only that collaborative care is the future of eye care; they also believe that they can be leaders in allowing progressive practitioners to communicate. Indeed, the optometrists who have written for BMC’s publications have also been featured in its ophthalmology publications, and vice versa. The editors and publishers at BMC believe in collaborative eye care. As AOC’s Co-Chief Medical Editor, William Trattler, MD, often says, “It’s all about the eyes.”
We believe in collaborative eye care so much that we have decided to make a change for the better. This issue of AOC will be the publication’s final installment, and we are excited to take the best parts of this publication to the next level in the new digital publication CollaborativeEYE, which will launch in early 2018.
This new publication will focus on topics important to progressive eye care providers who practice collaborative care—that is, eye care providers who see themselves as part of the spectrum of surgical management, and who thirst for information commensurate with their expertise and experience. CollaborativeEYE will look a lot like another BMC publication, MillennialEYE, in that it will be an all-digital, multimedia publication produced six times per year.
CollaborativeEYE will be the only publication for optometrists and ophthalmologists dedicated to navigating the nuances of the evolving collaborative eye care space. It will serve optometrists with a passion for elevated optometry and ophthalmologists who know that the future of eye care involves collaboration with their optometric counterparts.
You’ll see some familiar faces at CollaborativeEYE. We will continue to be co-Chief Medical Editors on a panel of ODs and MDs, and you will soon see some new faces on the panel as well.
We know you’ll love it. We’ll see you there.
Andrew Morgenstern, OD, FAAO
Chief Medical Editor
Walter O. Whitley, OD, MBA, FAAO
Chief Medical Editor
1. American Medical Association. Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 10.8. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/collaborative-care. Accessed November 27, 2017.