MILWAUKEE—Jackie Garlich, OD’s, 20/20 Glance is the perfect newsletter for the practitioner on the go. The weekly newsletter delivers a “rundown of recent headlines for the busy clinician,” and is delivered every Monday morning.
Dr. Garlich practices at Ophthalmology Associates, S.C., a multi-specialty eyecare practice in Milwaukee. She started 20/20 Glance in 2016 after realizing there wasn’t a good source for optometrists to keep up with clinically relevant optometry news. “There is so much optometry news and it can be very overwhelming,” Dr. Garlich told VMAIL Weekend. “I didn’t feel there was a publication that did strictly clinically relevant, no extra fluff, kind of news. I love going to CE and it’s a great way to dive into certain topics, but there’s so much that goes on day-to-day that you won’t get if you just do CE every six months.”
With new FDA approvals constantly coming out for different medications and information constantly hitting the web, Dr. Garlich decided that 20/20 Glance would be the place where practitioners could go get all the information they need without taking up too much of their own time. “Everyone’s busy running a practice or being an employee, so I’m doing the work for them. It’s just an email, a 5-minute read to start off your week, that contains information that I also use in my own exam room with my patients,” Dr. Garlich explained.
The 20/20 Glance newsletter features three parts “Your Run Down,” which is a bite-sized version of a trending topic; “What Your Patient Might Ask You,” which features a possible question from a patient regarding a specific topic; and “Social Media Round Up” which includes varying content from other websites as well as social media.
When it comes to selecting topics to cover, Dr. Garlich pulls information from different sources. While she covers trending topics, she also uses Google alerts to stay updated and in other cases, people will send her articles they think might be of interest.
As a full time practitioner and mother of two small kids, Dr. Garlich carves out time during the week to read through the news and see what she will be writing about for the following Monday. “I typically do a bit of reading each night so it’s not overwhelming on Sunday when I’m putting all the pieces together,” she stated.
Because she is a practicing optometrist, the fact that she is in constant contact with patients also helps in selecting topics to write about. “Part of the value of the newsletter is that it is written by someone who sees patients all day long,” Dr. Garlich explained. “I write about what other people who see patients would want to know. I care about those new glaucoma meds that just got approved—how do they work, what’s the dosing, etc. I find more value in those things because I’m seeing patients all day long.”
The process of creating 20/20glance has also showed Dr. Garlich the unity and support within the optical community. “I’ve met so many awesome optometrists. I found that when I floated the idea of 20/20 Glance to people I didn’t even know, everyone was so welcoming,” she stated. “It seemed like a good idea to me but I didn’t know what other people would think, but being able to unwind and really connect with other practitioners and have that acceptance really propelled me forward."