I was featured by the OSI Group in an article called “Beyond the Exam Room: Dr. Mishee Goyal on Optometry After Graduation.”
Read the full feature on the OSI Group website by clicking here.
Being featured in this article gave me a chance to reflect on something I don’t think we talk about enough in optometry: what happens after you graduate. Optometry school teaches you how to examine eyes, diagnose and manage ocular disease, prescribe glasses and contact lenses, and care for your patients. What it doesn’t necessarily prepare you for is everything that happens around the exam.
There are referrals, OHIP questions, charting, billing, staff management, technology, patient communication, business decisions and the day to day reality of running an optometry clinic.
I learned that very quickly.
Starting My Career in Optometry
When I first started practising optometry in Ontario, I quickly realized that being a good optometrist involved much more than being clinically competent. One of the biggest lessons for me was learning how to balance the clinical side of optometry with everything that happens behind the scenes.
Early in my career, I was seeing about one patient an hour. It wasn’t because I was slow in the exam room. It was because there was so much happening outside of the actual eye exam.
Learning how to manage referrals, complete charts, communicate with patients, troubleshoot equipment and understand the business side of an optometry practice all took time.
Looking back, those experiences became some of the most valuable parts of my career.
Building Blink Better in Burlington
Today, I practise at Blink Better in Burlington, Ontario, where I have had the opportunity to build a practice from the ground up.
Opening a cold start optometry practice has been one of the biggest learning experiences of my career.
Building Blink Better has allowed me to create the type of eye care experience I always wanted to provide. It has also given me the opportunity to develop areas of optometry that I am particularly passionate about, including comprehensive eye care and dry eye disease management.
Being located in Burlington means caring for patients from across the community, including Aldershot, Hamilton, Waterdown, Oakville and surrounding areas of Halton Region.
For me, being a local optometrist isn’t simply about providing an eye exam. It is about becoming part of the community and building relationships with patients over time.
The Human Side of Eye Care
One of the things I have become increasingly passionate about throughout my career is the human side of optometry.
It is easy to get caught up in the technology, measurements and clinical testing. Those things are incredibly important, but there is a person sitting in front of you who has their own concerns, experiences and questions.
I made a conscious decision early in my career to be more present with my patients.
Sometimes that means putting the computer aside and actually turning toward the person I’m speaking with. Sometimes it means asking about their life outside of the clinic. Sometimes it simply means listening.
I have learned that those small moments can make a big difference.
Whether I’m seeing someone for a routine eye exam in Burlington, managing a complex ocular health concern or working with a patient who has been struggling with dry eye symptoms for years, I want patients to feel that they have been heard.
Growing as an Independent Optometrist
Building an independent optometry practice has also taught me that you don’t have to figure everything out on your own. There is a common feeling, especially early in your career, that you should already know the answer. I definitely felt that way.
But optometry is constantly changing. New technology, treatments, business models and clinical opportunities continue to evolve. Asking questions and learning from other optometrists has been an important part of my own growth.
My experience with the OSI Group was an important part of building Blink Better. Having access to people who had already gone through the process of starting and growing an independent optometry practice gave me a different perspective and helped turn some of the unknowns into much more manageable decisions.
That support was particularly valuable when I was starting a cold start practice in Burlington and figuring out what I wanted Blink Better to become.
Why I Love Optometry
One of the things I love most about optometry is that there isn’t one way to practise. You can build a traditional family eye care practice. You can focus on specialty contact lenses. You can develop an expertise in ocular disease. You can build a dry eye clinic. You can become involved in education, technology, business or advocacy.
There is room to create something that reflects who you are as an optometrist.
For me, that has meant building Blink Better into a practice where comprehensive eye care, dry eye management and personalized patient care can come together.
It has been challenging, but it has also been incredibly rewarding.
A Message to New Optometrists
If I could give one piece of advice to a new optometrist, it would be this: You don’t need to have everything figured out right away.
Work in different environments. Learn from different optometrists. Ask questions. Build relationships. Pay attention to what you like and what you don’t like. Every practice you work in will teach you something about the kind of optometrist you want to become. Don’t underestimate the importance of the people around you.
The transition from optometry school to practising independently can feel overwhelming at times, but you are not expected to know everything on day one.
Your clinical knowledge will continue to grow. Your confidence will grow. Your business knowledge will grow.
Give yourself the space to learn.
Looking Ahead
Being featured by the OSI Group gave me an opportunity to look back at how much has changed since I first started practising optometry in Ontario.
From learning the realities of life after optometry school to building an independent optometry practice in Burlington, the journey has definitely not been a straight line.
There have been challenges, unexpected lessons and plenty of moments where I had to figure things out as I went.
But that is also what makes it exciting.
Blink Better continues to grow, and I am excited to keep expanding the ways we can care for our patients across Burlington, Aldershot, Hamilton and the surrounding Halton community.
Optometry has given me the opportunity to build something that is both clinically meaningful and personal to me.
And I’m only getting started.