While researching communication skills, Dr Dirk vom Lehn, Professor of Organisation and Practice at King’s Business School, King’s College London, video-recorded 62 consultations across seven optometric practices. He found seven examples of ‘door-handle’ remarks. 

They ranged from questions about contact lenses to a story about a lorry running over a pair of glasses. Thankfully, these instances were minor and didn’t have a significant impact on the running schedule for the day, but that isn’t always the case.

Dr Paramdeep Bilkhu MCOptom, Clinical Adviser for the College, recalls a patient who, on the threshold of his consulting room on their way out, told him they had flashes and floaters in their eyes. “This obviously rang alarm bells as it’s a potential sign of a retinal detachment,” he says. 

“I brought the patient back into the consulting room, did the history assessment again and investigated further. They had a small retinal tear, so I had to arrange an emergency appointment. It all took a significant amount of extra time, but it was important because their sight was at risk.”