For a dental practice to be profitable and productive, it’s critical to get things done in a timely manner while maintaining excellent patient care. When you and your staff know how to manage your time, it makes things better for everyone, including your patients. After all, no patient wants to spend any more time in their dentist’s office than what’s absolutely necessary!
In this post, you will find some tried and true ways for better managing your time and skyrocketing the productivity at your practice without affecting your quality control.
Use A Software To Manage Your Clinical Schedule
Do you often find yourself overbooked? Do you feel like you are always rushing from one patient to the next? If so, you might be using an inefficient scheduling method. The best way to deal with this is to invest in a software program that is designed to track the dentist’s time, assistant’s time, hygienist’s time, and total chair-time.
There are programs that can visually show the doctor’s time as they move from patient to patient or room to room in an organized manner. To implement this system, you will need to look closely at how all your time is spent. It will help you determine things like how long the dentist takes to perform implant dentistry, how much time is required for hygiene appointments, and so on.
Make Sure There Are No Redundancies
During a full consultation, the ideal dentist time is about 20 minutes then the treatment coordinator takes over. And yet, a lot of dentists end up spending much more than that presenting their treatment plan, leading to lower treatment acceptance.
Each day, your assistant should assess the treatment with the patient in question, inform them what to expect during their appointment, and then evaluate their consent and post-operation care instructions before you (the doctor) even enters the room.
Plan Your Treatments In Advance
Most dentists plan their cases during the weekends or in the evenings. A more efficient approach is to schedule a few 20-minute time blocks for case and treatment planning on a Friday morning. Have your staff put the treatment planner or chart on your desk with a note mentioning the patient’s next visit date for a review of findings.
Your staff should also have everything ready for your review, including new patient exam records, contact information, models, images, etc. If the case needs to be planned with another doctor, your staff should set up an appointment (via phone) with that doctor, unless of course it’s an emergency situation.
Delegate Responsibilities As Much As Possible
In the dental community and in your dental practice in particular, everything that can be delegated should be. With dental laboratories, dental technicians, assistants, interns, etc., there are people around you who can take a lot off your plate so be prepared to make the most of their talent and skills. This also includes hiring a payroll service even if you are a small practice with three employees. It will not only lighten your workload, but also make your staff happy.
Partner With A Top-Rated Dental Laboratory
It takes a lot of time to learn and practice what dental lab technicians do on a daily basis. By using a quality dental lab, you can save a lot of time and effort. Plus, they have experience so they know how to work faster and more accurately.
Make sure the lab you choose to work with has the right equipment and dental laboratory technology to create the dental implants, dental crowns, and restorations you want. Some dental labs tend to outsource to reduce costs while others can only offer limited dental products. Working with the right dental lab is paramount to ensure your quality of treatment doesn’t suffer.
Leading Full-Service Dental Laboratory in Los Angeles Since 1988
At Trident Dental Laboratories, we use the latest dental technology to provide you with the most advanced solutions in the dental industry. Regardless of how big or small your dental practice is, we can deliver consistent high-quality work at every step, be it accurate-fit final results or convenient shipping. Send us your case today or contact us online if you have any questions.