It is not an easy task to manage a dental patient efficiently, lest managing your own dental practice. A bigger practice comes with more patients and is further succeeded by excessive management requirements in your dental office. Managing a dental practice well is fairly important for the practice to be successful. But is your practice living up to it’s full productivity? These are some points to keep in mind if you want your practice to grow multifold in productivity and remain productive.
I) Management of the Practice :
1) Valuing : Treating your patients well is as important as treating your coworkers well. These may include people ranging from fellow dentists to your dental assistants, receptionist, and sweepers. When people feel valued at their place of work, they tend to put their full potential in their work. This in turn creates a workplace where people are excited to work and show up everyday without fail. This also helps them work meticulously and not take advantage of their relationship with their superiors.
Encourage, motivate, reward and recognise good work.
2) Accountability : At your practice, you are accountable for whatever happens. Never blame people or accuse them of wrong doings. You are accountable for anything that goes haywire. If at all, a coworker does something wrong, never confront them in front of other coworkers.The coworker might feel offended and would harbour negative feelings towards you. This promotes ridicule and inbreeds an environment where it is considered right to snitch and backbite. Why would you want your workplace to be so? Always sit them down alone and discuss what went wrong and try to resolve it.Avoid raising your voice and talk it out politely. This promotes a good atmosphere and a positive attitude among all.
3) Segregation : Always segregate roles of each coworker clearly. No roles of two people should collide. This maintains a direct relationship of each person with you and makes them directly approach you if something is not functioning smoothly. This in turn returns in you knowing everything about your practice that needs to be looked after. If your practice is too big rendering it impossible for you to do so, you can employ a person whose job is to precisely look after all this.
4) Follow Up : Follow up on set targets. Every target or milestone set needs to be followed up as well, to see if the progress is sufficient and if not, whether any interim measures can be taken before it is too late to salvage a situation.Set discussion meetings once a month for this, where everyone can raise their concerns or bring to your notice impending issues.
5) Micromanagement: Manage but do not micromanage. Employees need to be managed, provided direction and given assistance. But with this they must also be trusted, given freedom to operate in their style and adopt measures which they think are the best to deliver results.
6) TeamWork: Always think of your practice as a teamwork. When you think like a team , you work like one and a team always achieve better than a single being in the long run.
7) Break the monotony and rotate, if possible : Rotating people keeps their mind working better and stimulated. It also maintains a dignity of labour in the workplace.
II ) For Dentists :
1) Movement :For yourself and your fellow dentists remember to stand up from the chair after some patients and to stretch your back and neck. Put up a neck and back exercise chart in your dental operator for facilitation of the same. This ensures relief from back and neck pain dentists are occupational prone to. Sick leaves brings down productivity so ensure the well being of your employees.
2) Courses and Improvement : Enhance your skills by attending CDE programmes and keep updated with the new knowledge and discoveries in the field. A closed mind does not feel stimulated and harbours negative emotions. Curb this and stimulate your mind as often as possible.
3) Hobbies : Do not stop pursuing your hobbies. Have one hobby outside of your professional establishment. The more physical, the better. This ensures a sound body and happy mind. This also breaks the monotony.
4) Tools and Equipments : Change your entire set of equipments every few years. Instruments loose their sharpness after some time, however properly managed. Efficiently working tools cuts the treating time by half and provides you with more time to spend elsewhere.
5) Atmosphere : Ensure the atmosphere of the establishment is calm and soothing. Place essential oil dispenser for a calmer waiting room and relaxed patients.
Hope these ideas they help you to increase the productivity of your practice.
Good information & please give us more like it.