What makes a conversation memorable? That was the question posed to third-year optometry students in the first annual Memorable Conversations Scholarship.
Research has shown that patients immediately forget up to 80% of information learned during a medical appointment. At Rendia, we are committed to helping doctors and patients understand each other better so patients can remember critical health information. We believe that a strong doctor-patient relationship starts with a memorable conversation, so we were inspired to hear the conversations of tomorrow’s eye doctors.
About the Memorable Conversations Scholarship
Rendia and ODs on Facebook joined forces to offer two $5,000 scholarships to third-year optometry students who could wow us with creative video submissions. We asked students to record a video (3 minutes or less) addressing the following prompt:
Show us the most creative way you can explain a difficult eye condition/disease without using any traditional medical illustrations or supplies (e.g., plastic eye model, wall chart, patient education brochure). Use non-traditional materials and be as creative as you can!
Along with their videos, students were also asked to submit an essay telling us:
When you enter practice, how will you ensure your conversations are memorable and your patients remember your critical messages?
Students uploaded their videos to the private Facebook group, ODs on Facebook, with the hashtag #RememberWithRendia. Needless to say, we got some incredible submissions.
Without further ado, we are proud to announce the 2017 winners of ODs on Facebook and Rendia’s first annual Memorable Conversations Scholarship.
Meet the 2017 winners
Kandace Alfred, Student at UMSL College of Optometry
Floaters
Kandace uses jello to demonstrate how the vitreous changes and causes floaters to develop as we age. She explains that when we’re young, our vitreous starts out similar to the texture of jello. As we age, our vitreous starts to resemble jello that has liquefied over time—mostly liquid, but some of the jello has clumped together, causing floaters that are part of the normal aging process.
Don’t worry—if you didn’t pack jello for lunch, you can still explain floaters to your patients with Rendia. All you need is a computer and Internet connection. Take a look at our mash-up video of Kandace’s explanation alongside Rendia’s interactive patient education tool, Exam Mode:
Jason Foote, Student at Southern College of Optometry
Presbyopia
Jason uses a camera lens to demonstrate how presbyopia can develop as we age. He explains that similar to how a camera lens works, young eyes can quickly change focus between near and far, but as the lens becomes less flexible, it becomes stuck and out of focus—similar to presbyopia where the lens gradually becomes more and more sticky as we age and eventually results in blurred vision.
If you need to explain presbyopia to a patient but don’t have a manual camera lens on hand, Rendia can help. Take a look at this mash-up video we created of Jason’s explanation alongside Exam Mode’s interactive 3D animations:
Check out Kandace and Jason’s winning video and essay submissions here.
See all the video submissions by visiting the group ODs on Facebook and searching #RememberWithRendia. If you’re not already a member, you can request to join ODs on Facebook here.
How students can prepare for next year
Students—are you going into your third year at optometry school? Start thinking of a difficult eye condition/disease to explain now (and don’t forget to request to join the private Facebook group, ODs on Facebook)!
Parents, professors, optometrists—do you know of anyone entering their third year of optometry school? Share this blog post and encourage students to join the Memorable Conversations Scholarship mailing list to receive important updates about next year’s application process.
The official eligibility to qualify for the Memorable Conversations Scholarship is as follows:
- Full-time third-year student currently enrolled in an accredited US optometry school
- Student member of their school’s private practice club
- Member of the private ODs on Facebook group (membership must be requested* in order to submit video entry—request to join the group ODs on Facebook here)
Rendia would like to give a special thanks to all the applicants, our panel of judges, and to Alan Glazier, founder of ODs on Facebook. We are excited to offer this opportunity again next year.
Want to be alerted when 2018 scholarship information becomes available? Subscribe to our Memorable Conversations Scholarship mailing list.