We are about to have a very candid conversation. However, I know you are up for it and actually welcome it.
Here’s the hard truth… if you ever think you are ‘helping’ a patient by not actually helping a patient (through dentistry), you are guilty of making an excuse to make it easier on you. It might be because of your own deserve level, lack of confidence, failing to see the value of what you do, distractions in the office, improper timing/scheduling, or misplaced priorities.
I know, I warned you.
What we all can agree on is we are guilty of being human… whether in a hurry or overly sympathetic or pre-judging or too concerned about a patient’s pocketbook instead of a patient’s health – it’s easy to push aside the role you play in your patients’ health.
That is, of course, not to coerce or convince or force a patient into anything.
Your goal is to facilitate and educate them to the best decision for themselves, not just today but the long term. This goes beyond just reactively dealing with existing problems but proactively working towards the greater possibilities of what optimal health can provide to them. Every patient deserves to know what is their ‘state of idea’ really looks like.
The topic at hand is: how can you be more engaging in order to involve patients in their own pathway to health to give the opportunity of achieving optimal health.
So, where does this patient conversation actually begin?
Once you have answered that question and established a solid foundation, you have everything you need. This will actually work effortlessly to grow trust with your patients and help them make better decisions for their quality of life.
The reason why this matters so much is because of my basic (and critically important) principle…
Patients can only say yes to what they have been given a chance to say yes to.
In addition to that, simply being ethical and having integrity in your relationship should make this decision easy for you.
Besides the other obvious advantages, committing to this approach takes the guesswork out of everything and everyone. It puts everyone on the same page for what, how, and why you do what you do.
And it also removes any wiggle room for you to let excuses creep in for shortchanging your patients their own opportunity and right to be informed about what optimal health really is – which I truly believe is your greatest responsibility.
Now, you might say there are exceptions, and that may be true with a lot of things in life. However, your standard of care, quality of experience, and health-based principles shouldn’t be one of them.
I know you already customize your care for each individual patient’s pathway to health (or you wouldn’t be here reading this). This is more a matter of a) what do you see as the intended outcome for your patients, b) what do you think your patients are worthy of experiencing, c) what do you want to stand for in terms of clinical philosophy, and d) what do you really believe is your practice’s purpose and mission.
Your assignment today is to be self-aware and take an honest assessment over where you get in your way (and your patients’ way) by your use of words that sabotage progress, where you might be cutting corners for convenience, or when you take shortcuts to save time.
It goes without sayings that this is not an all or nothing scenario where every patient is full mouth on the first visit. It’s about your expectations of what you do, how you do it, and the why it’s so important for your patients.
You have to see it, believe it, organize it, and execute it in your patient experience with complete congruence before your patients can see it, believe it, accept it, and ultimately invest in it.
As you can see by all of this, the patient conversation really starts first in your own mind when you decide just how you are going to guide and lead, literally and figuratively, your patients to the outcomes they deserve. It all begins by having clarity about why this matters so much to you and to your patients.
There’s so much to talk about here. We’ll continue this conversation with some examples and new ways to think about your patient engagement next week.
