Jaclyn Garlich, OD, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, admits that she was feeling guilty about not keeping up with all of the news going on in the profession. “Our lives get busy, and when you are home late at night, you don’t necessarily want to open up a journal at that time,” she says. She regularly completed her continuing education, but she felt she was falling short in other areas.
Dr. Garlich turned to her colleagues for their favorite resources for staying up to date, but she says none of them had a good answer. “There is a definite need,” she says, and the concept for 20/20 Glance was her solution. Dr. Garlich based the platform on similar email formats that she’s seen in her inbox before, short bullet points that allow the reader to skim down the rundown without consuming a lot of time reading. “There’s a lot of information out there, but not all of it is clinically relevant,” she says. “I want to know what I can use in my exam chair and what a patient might ask me.” The topics in 20/20 Glance are designed to be applicable to everyday practice, such as addressing surveys and studies about new products, FDA approvals, legislative initiatives and timely topics such as Zika and concussions during football season. Dr. Garlich injects a bit of personality into her posts to keep the content feeling fresh, and it will take about five minutes for readers to review 20/20 Glance.
Colleagues submit items to Dr. Garlich for inclusion, and she keeps a running list of articles to consider. She doesn’t include everything on the list to keep the email short and easy to consume, and all information is available right in the body of the email. After gathering options throughout the week, she puts her summary together Sunday evening to go out on Monday morning. “It’s a nice way to start the week,” Dr. Garlich says. “You can read it over coffee, or roll over in bed and check your emails.”
