I hear them every single day. \u00a0All the excuses in the book\u2026<\/p>\n
Doctor scheduled to be in two places at once.<\/p>\n
Running behind on Hygiene Exams.<\/p>\n
To rushed to talk comprehensively about treatment.<\/p>\n
Multiple new patients scheduled at the same time.<\/p>\n
And so on.<\/p>\n
I could have an excuse for every single clinical day of the year as to why so much treatment is missed on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
It all comes down to ensuring that your schedule and patient flow is conducive to creating a great experience that gives you time enough to build the trust, the vision, the belief, the importance, the benefits and the value in the patients\u2019 minds about the dentistry they deserve to achieve an optimal state of health based on your clinical philosophy.<\/p>\n
You have heard the saying, \u201cToo busy to get anything done.\u201d \u00a0Well it\u2019s \u201ctoo busy doing dentistry to create enough dentistry to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is surreal for me to listen to a practice who says they don\u2019t have enough patients, there are holes in their schedules and yet they are so \u201cbusy\u201d they never have enough time to do justice by the patient experience in order to really build comprehensive, full mouth treatment plans for their patients.<\/p>\n
I say there is no chicken and egg issue when it comes to the schedule. \u00a0A schedule built for growth with a focus on time with patients to ensure creation and case acceptance takes precedence over all things. \u00a0This is the most important step, first \u2018change\u2019 and initial shift in mindset for you to break through to the next level in your practice.<\/p>\n
You have to set up a practice, culture, environment, process, experience and system to facilitate more patients saying yes to more bigger and complete treatment. \u00a0This is why you are there and the main point to what you are doing.<\/p>\n
Here are some very basic fundamentals that you must have in place and make commitments to if you want to give yourself an advantage with the battle for case acceptance and proper trust building patient experiences.<\/p>\n
A schedule (and a team) that allows you to never leave a patient alone so that there is always someone directing their focus, there to further the conversation and obviously there to make them feel comfortable.<\/p>\n
You must have balance in your schedule so that you are supporting the doctor (you) in producing your goals and objectives but also creating for the dentistry of the future. \u00a0That is why my focus, philosophy and systems on Team-Driven Diagnosis is so important because it sets you up to have the heavy lifting done before you walk into the room.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important that new patients aren\u2019t scheduled at the same time \u2013 if there is one doctor \u2013 otherwise the experience couldn\u2019t possibly be congruent. \u00a0You have to block and allocate Doctor time for the exam and patient engagement portion when the treatment plan is being built.<\/p>\n
Of course, it all comes down to managing and coordinating the seamless flow of the doctor\u2019s time in the day so they are not expected in two places at once with a patient \u201cknowingly\u201d waiting on them.<\/p>\n
This is cushioned and protected by having enough team members and clinical support to keep things moving around the doctor and not fully dependent on the doctor when it comes to timing.<\/p>\n
There is so much more I could say about the schedule.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t want to leave too much time for procedures that you always finish early but you don\u2019t want to have procedures that you always run over with that then throw off every other aspect of the day.<\/p>\n
There has to be strategy when it comes to hygiene engagement as it relates to the timing and choreography (keyword) of how the Doctor is moving in and out. \u00a0This allows you to address the overall goals for each patient and enact the protocols to make sure that we are getting to clinical yeses every step of the way with every single patient.<\/p>\n
All of this boils down to being prepared for and \u2018visualizing\u2019 the day in advanced \u2013 everyone \u2013 not just the doctor and the clinical team. \u00a0Then you have a day preplanned and \u201clived through\u201d to see every possible sticking point, to maximize every possible opportunity, to make the most of every patient visit and to run efficiently through the day without waste or haste.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the best do. \u00a0Plain and simple. \u00a0I\u2019ll go into more detail on that next week.<\/p>\n
Use this Weekly Report to assess where you are sabotaging yourselves in your schedule and where patients aren\u2019t given the best chance to get comprehensively diagnosed and moving them forward down the pathway to health and to a clinical yes.<\/p>\n
Make a list of your battle plan principles for a successful schedule and patient flow in your day. \u00a0This will prepare you for dramatic breakthroughs in the creation of treatment opportunities every single day. \u00a0And you will be on your way to making your schedule more valuable than you ever thought possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"