Dental office management – Patient Focus

Remedies for Stress to Increase Dental Office Efficiency

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There are some days at the dental office that can leave the entire team exhausted, breathless and stressed. There are an endless number of to-dos to be taken care of on a regular basis such as maintaining employee satisfaction, keeping dental chairs filled, supplies stocked and eliminating patient no-shows.

Increase Dental Office Efficiency with These 3 Remedies for Stress

Outsource Your Dental Recall Services

Having an effective recall system is extremely important to your dental practice; it is also a service that is beneficial to outsource. Recall duties are often assigned to office staff who don’t have enough time or training to get the best results which can result in a team that is completely stressed out. Outsourcing your dental recall services with Patient Focus can help to increase your practice profitability and your overall revenues. Patient Focus understands that doing recall right is what sustains a practice. If you want to reach your overdue patients, zap stress, and maximize all your revenues, contact Patient Focus today for the solution you’ve been looking for.

Tweak Your Time Management

When you feel that stress start to build, take a step back and review your dental practice. Are you constantly running behind schedule? Is your dental team always frazzled and do stress levels always seem to escalate? Try these effective time management strategies to lower stress in the dental office. Take the time to learn and master the art of prioritization, delegation, assertiveness and decision making.

Exercise

Exercise helps to lower stress levels significantly. One of the best remedies for stress out there, exercise burns up the excess adrenaline caused by stress, allowing the body to return to a steady state. Try to exercise at least 4-5 times a week and you will start seeing a decrease in your stress levels. Exercise will increase energy and efficiency and release endorphins, which provide the feel good factor to help you be nicer to your dental patients and team!

While stress cannot be completely eliminated from a dental practice, it is important to minimize it as much as possible and to avoid the many stress-related physical and emotional problems that it causes. Use these remedies for stress to avoid the negative effects of stress.

Don’t let dental recall add more stress to your plate. Take the stress out of your dental recall and schedule a consultation with Patient Focus. Patient Focus will simplify and streamline your efforts to grow your dental practice in just 3 simple steps!

Common Characteristics of the Million Dollar Dental Clinic

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What makes a dental clinic exceptional and stand out among the rest? A potential patient will be looking for specific characteristics when searching for their new dental clinic, ensure your dental practice has these characteristics.

Here are some of the top characteristics of a dental clinic that rises above the rest.

Friendliness

A professional and friendly staff will help your dental clinic shine. Not only will it help staff morale internally, but patients will take note as well. No one likes to be around a grump, especially in a setting where most patients are already feeling nervous, scared or apprehensive. Create an atmosphere of lighthearted, personal and friendly communication.

Achieve that sought after \’91WOW\’92 factor with these 4 ideas for creating the ultimate patient experience.

Structure

A million dollar dental clinic is structured for success, with crystal clear goals that are monitored constantly. Create S.M.A.R.T. goals and share them with the team. They will be true motivators for the dentist and staff when they are used consistently to gauge the practice\’92s progress.

Skill

Both dentists and their staff should take their profession seriously and have a strong passion to deliver high quality care that lasts. Become a lifelong learner. Your dental clinic should always be learning in order to deliver an ever-improving quality of care, and to apply new techniques and methods.

Taking the Time

A stand out dental clinic values time\’97the patient\’92s time at the very top of the list. Patient appointments should be adhered to and treatment should be completed in a timely manner. Taking the time also involves answering all your patient\’92s questions and listening to any concerns. Never speed through a patient\’92s treatment schedule. Carefully and effectively explain a diagnosis and treatment if necessary.

Communicate

Effective communication in the dental clinic includes listening, writing and talking. Poor communication can have a negative effect on many aspects of the business, so it\’92s vital that you and your staff have clear communication to ensure all tasks and responsibilities are carried out correctly.

Your dental clinic could be the best of the best if it possesses these common characteristics.

Want to improve your business? Patient Focus can help your dental clinic find success through dental recall. Contact Patient Focus now to get more appointments.

How to Avoid Dental Patient Complaints

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It can oftentimes be our first instinct to avoid conflict or become defensive when we hear a patient complaint. But, if you are a dentist and you ignore or do not handle an upset patient appropriately, then a negative trickle effect can begin.

An unhappy patient may not only complain to their friends and family, but may go online and post negative reviews about your dental practice – whether they are justified in their complaining or not.

Read this blog to see how you can use a patient satisfaction survey to improve performance.

Even the best and most careful dental practices can make mistakes or have an \’93off\’94 day, and no matter what we do, we can\’92t please everyone. In the event that you do receive patient complaints, never ever ignore it! Patients often just want to know that they are being heard, recognizing their complaint and acknowledging that they matter can go a long way in calming a frustrated patient.

But, we want to help you avoid those complaints to begin with! Reduce the likelihood of patient dissatisfaction with these helpful tips to avoid patient complaints altogether.

Clearly Communicate

One of the best way to ward off patient complaints is to make absolutely sure that they fully understand what you are explaining to them about their treatment or diagnosis. Clearly communicate and establish a good rapport and spend time and effort in really getting to know them. Avoid terminology that they don\’92t understand and be straightforward while providing as much detail as necessary. To ensure they understand what you have explained or the advice given, ask questions. Always allow the patient to be in a position to make an informed choice about their treatment without seeming too pushy or rushing them in any way.

Record Solid Records

Always make sure you take clear notes documenting all of your advice and treatment plans\’97and make it legible! In the event of a patient complaint, solid records are essential.

Get Feedback

After your patient\’92s visit, contact them for their feedback. It shows you truly care and want to address any concerns that may have come up since they were in. A qualified team member could make the call for you and it could be something as simple as, \’93Doctor X. asked me to call you to see how you\’92re doing after your visit with us yesterday.\’94 Giving patients an opportunity to talk with you before they give feedback with their network or online.

Always remember that if you have any patient complaints, respond to them quickly and in a positive, helpful manner. Your dental patients ultimately care more about whether or not you have attempted to make things right than their complaint in the first place.

Discover how you can begin realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database with these 3 Simple Steps to Increased Revenue.

4 Traits Every Dental Practice Manager Should Possess

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A dental practice manager is a very unique position since it often stems from a wide variety of backgrounds. Perhaps you started out chairside, or maybe you got your start working as a receptionist and moved your way up. You may have managed other types of professional offices or companies aside from a dental practice or hold a business degree. Wherever your career path started out, there are some essential traits that every dental practice manager should possess. Do you have them?

Dental Practice Manager Trait Checklist

Are you\’85

Flexible & Understanding?

You need to be able to stay calm in a fast-paced environment and keep your head in the game with multiple projects and responsibilities happening all at once. Having an understanding of operations and extensive knowledge to perform any task at a dental practice is crucial. Whether it is appointment scheduling, data entry or dental patient interaction, you should be able to do it all and with ease.

A Good Communicator?

The ability to effectively communicate is so important to the success of your dental office. As a dental practice manager, you will need to be able to communicate with team members, department heads, dentists and patients. You will have to be able to relay vital information honestly, concisely and constructively. A dental practice manager is also easy to talk to\’97 for both staff and patients alike.

One important aspect of being a good communicator is listening. Make sure you\’92re actively listening and using these 3 important listening skills every day.

An Advocate of Teamwork?

Teamwork is often as crucial as having a dental practice manager to begin with. Front staff and clinical staff need to have continuous and open communication. As a manager, this should be one of your top priorities. By encouraging teamwork in the dental office, you are able to proactively address any issues that may arise and create a better plan for solutions and the results best for the clinic and dental team.

A Leader?

An effective dental practice manager is able to provide direction and guidance while supporting the team in their attempt to accomplish objectives and build constructive professional relationships.

Recognize any of these characteristics in yourself? Possessing these dental practice manager characteristics will skyrocket both your professional success and the success of the practice in which you work.

Stress-be-gone with these 3 remedies for stress relief at work! These tips will help you to go forth and conquer your workday with these tips in your back pocket.

It can be extremely stressful if there are empty dental chairs at your office. Download our 5-Point Checklist to Achieving a Full Schedule here. The essential secrets to successfully filling your dental chairs await!

Dental Staff Communication Mistakes to Avoid

A dental office without good staff communication is a recipe for disaster. Effectively communicating enhances success and ultimately overall satisfaction not only in the workplace but in life.

In dentistry, it\’92s crucial to master staff communication in all ways – the relationship between doctor and patient, hygienist and doctor and hygienist and patient, as well as between staff.

Poor staff communication can lead to decreased motivation, increased misunderstandings and even create conflict. These communication problems can trickle down to your patients who can often sense issues even if you think it\’92s only internal.

Quality communication is key to the success of any workplace. Read this blog to improve communication skills to keep your schedule full.

Consistent and effective staff communication in your dental office can be one of your most powerful assets and lead to a fulfilling and successful business.

Avoid these five critical mistakes in establishing effective staff communication.

Dental Staff Communication Mistake #1: Not Being on the Same Page

Huddle up! If you\’92ve been wondering why your dental office isn\’92t producing results, maybe you should consider starting a morning huddle for the ultimate staff communication! Here you can set the tone for the day, inspire and create daily performance outcomes with the entire team. You\’92re able to get everyone on the same page with a morning huddle.

Dental Staff Communication Mistake #2: One-Size-Fits-All Communication

Everyone has their own communication style\’97there\’92s no one-size-fits-all. Some people can get it right off the bat, while others may need a bit more explaining. Take into consideration everyone\’92s different learning and communication styles with a communication strategy that will address them all.

Dental Staff Communication Mistake #3: Not Taming Your Tone

The tone of your voice is always important but especially during stressful times in the workplace. If you\’92re feeling frazzled, you might have an edgy tone. Here\’92s a tone-taming trick\’97before you talk, stop, pause and take a deep breath. Then, communicate what you wanted to say.

Dental Staff Communication Mistake #4: Being a Gossip King or Queen

You never want to indulge in gossip at the dental office, but it can ruin reputations and break trust. You want to be trusted as a communicator and team member\’97leave all gossip at the door and don\’92t partake.

Dental Staff Communication Mistake #5: Not Listening

We often think of effective communication skills being how we speak or write. But listening is the key to all effective communication. Being an active listener means you have the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

Staff communication is a precious tool in your dental office. When you can avoid these staff communication mistakes, it will benefit your leadership, success and your business!

Are you ready to simplify and streamline your efforts to grow you dental practice? Follow this link to request a consultation with one of our call experts, or call us today at 888.978.2615 and get started in only three simple steps!

Learn How to Get Started

Dental Practice Administrator:\’a0 3 Remedies for Stress

The day of a dental practice administrator can be quite daunting. You are a super hero who is devoted to swooping in and saving your team and practice from the dangers and stress of the day\’92s challenges! It\’92s a tough job making sure the dental office is running efficiently, is organized, your staff is efficiently doing their jobs, everyone is appropriately handling patient scheduling and so on.

As a dental practice administrator you get TONS dumped on your lap every day\’97stress may seem inevitable.

Stress affects health, happiness and success in life. Stress can make or break us but it\’92s up to us to decide which it will be. If you have a little gray raincloud of stress over your head, it\’92s time to banish it far away and bring in all that positivity. Combatting stress will not only do wonders for you at work and personally, but it will radiate and rub off on your entire team, ultimately creating a happy work environment for all!

So dental practice administrators, it\’92s time to say \’91down with stress!\’92 Try these simple and effective remedies for stress to make your workplace a much happier\’97and less-stressful\’97place each day.

Step back

If you feel like stress is mounting, take a quick break and remove yourself from the stressful situation. Take a walk outside, meditate in the break room, outside or in your car. Or even try something as simple as taking a breather\’97stand up and look away from your computer screen and breathe in and out. Taking a \’91time out\’92 to get some fresh air, exercise or a moment to breathe is fantastic for your body and mental health and can help you reenergize and refocus.

Practice positivity

If you\’92re in a positive state of mind, you\’92re better able to tackle everyday stress. Practice turning negative thinking into positive thinking. The process seems simple but it does take time and practice. Some ways to put positivity in your day could be:

Adding some humor and laughter to your day
Following a healthy lifestyle
Surrounding yourself with positive people
Practicing positive self-talk

Focus

We live in a world that looks at multitasking as a virtue. However, picking one achievable goal to devote all your focus on can make work feel manageable again. If you have a huge task, cut it into chunks and start there. Make a to-do list so you can visually see what you need to do and prioritize each item. Then, cross each one off with great enthusiasm when you finish!

Stress-be-gone with these 3 remedies for stress relief! Now it\’92s time for you to go forth and conquer your workday with these tips in your back pocket.

It can be extremely stressful if there are empty dental chairs at your office. Download our 5-Point Checklist to Achieving a Full Schedule here. The essential secrets to successfully filling your dental chairs await!

Happy dental office staff is the key to a pleasant environment in your dental practice. If your staff is frustrated with the policies at the practice, their bad mood may affect a patient\’92s experience at your practice, and that is the last thing you need. Do what you can to make your staff\’92s work experience a pleasant one so that you can benefit from a successful and motivated team. Here are 4 ways to keep your dental office staff happy.

5 Tips to Becoming a Better Dental Practice Manager

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The dental practice manager is vital to the overall success of a dental practice. They wear many different hats, navigate through highly stressful days and have a tremendous impact on how efficiently a dental practice operates each day. As a dental practice manager, your clients are not only your dentist, but your staff and most importantly your patients. To effectively juggle your daily responsibilities takes great skill.

Here are some dos and don\’92ts to follow to be an even more fantastic dental practice manager.

Don\’92t stay behind your desk.

With a billion things on your plate, it can be easy to be glued to your chair without even getting up for water. Step away from your desk and out of your office frequently to ensure that your office and staff are all functioning seamlessly. You want to move throughout the office while observing and interacting during the day. After all, the only way to know exactly what is going on in your office is to interact with the staff, dentists and patients.

Do set a good example.

Always try to lead by example. When you demonstrate time management skills, strong work ethic, respect, kindness and hard work, your staff will follow your example and respect you at the same time.

Don\’92t be scared to get your hands dirty.

The dental practice manager should know how to perform every job in the office, and complete them with a high degree of expertise and efficiency. There may be days where you\’92re short staffed or swamped with patients. You should be able to seamlessly jump right in to help.

Don\’92t be afraid of outsourcing.

It can be difficult to let go of the reigns, but outsourcing can really help you manage your dental practice. If there is an aspect of your business that could use an expert, reap the benefits of outsourcing. Patient Focus is here for your dental practice to reactivate your patients with live calls. Discover how Patient Focus can breathe life back into your practice.

Do stay informed.

Always keep yourself informed of any new guidelines, rules or laws affecting your dental practice. If you simply \’91don\’92t know\’92 it could cost you lots of time and money in the long run. Ensure your budget includes attending local or national conferences and subscriptions to useful online and offline publications or organizations.

As a dental practice manager you have a lot coming at you from every direction. Implementing these tips will help you to smoothly navigate through a hectic dental day and reach dental office success.

Streamlining your dental patient scheduling process is one of the easiest ways you can increase productivity and profitability. Here\’92s how you can get started today with these 5 Dental Patient Scheduling Process Tips for Success.

4 Traits to Look for in the Best Dental Receptionist

Your dental receptionist is often the very first impression that your patients\’97both new and existing\’97have of your dental office. This initial interaction and experience with the front desk needs to be on point, and nothing short of extraordinary.

So how do you find the dental receptionist who will be the best fit for your office? We broke down some of the top traits successful practices look for when hiring a dental receptionist.

4 Traits Your Dental Receptionist Should Possess

Multi-Tasking Master

A dental receptionist should be able to wear many different hats and take on numerous tasks efficiently. While research shows that multi-tasking is impossible, they must be able to manage multiple tasks throughout the day. From maintaining patient records, processing payments and billing insurance agencies\’97all while being the face of your dental office\’97there are many balls to juggle each day. Most dental offices are an extremely fast-paced environment\’97be sure your dental receptionist is ready to hit the ground running and tackle each task effectively and independently.

Good Listening Skills

While listening may often be considered a lost art these days, your dental receptionist should not be lacking in their listening skills! They should always take the time to listen closely to patients to be efficient in solving their problems and answering their questions.

Vibrant Verbal Skills

Your dental receptionist\’92s verbal skills need to be on point in order to skillfully answer dental patient\’92s questions while at the same time building a rapport and relationship. They should see every patient conversation, in person and over the phone, as an opportunity to build trust. These conversations should reassure patients that they\’92ve made the right choice by choosing your clinic and have found their new dental home. They must be personable, inviting and friendly. Most patients have anxiety about going to the dentist. Interacting with a dental receptionist that possesses amazing verbal skills can put their minds at ease and make them feel important.

Over-the-top Organizational Skills

You can never be too organized\’97especially in a hectic dental office. An organized dental receptionist makes everyone\’92s jobs easier. They should be able to find files and phone numbers with ease and maintain a tidy work space.

Your dental receptionist plays a critical role at your office. Be on the lookout for all of these 4 traits to find the ideal candidate to man your front desk for dental practice success!

Are you ready to simplify and streamline your efforts to grow you dental practice? Follow this link to request a consultation with one of our call experts, or call us today at 888.978.2615 and get started in only three simple steps!

Learn How to Get Started

Become the Best Dentist with These 4 Secrets

If you already are a dentist or are thinking about becoming one, you want to constantly strive to be the best dentist you can be.

As a dentist, you picked a field that can be rewarding, interesting and at times extremely stressful. A dentist should possess many qualities and wear different hats such as a strong desire to help people as well as providing exemplary dental care. While there are many different paths to achieve dental success, there tend to be some core principles that are common to the best dentists around.

We\’92ve identified 4 secrets of highly successful dentists to help you become the best dentist out there.

Secrets and Traits to Become the Best Dentist You Can Be

Be an excellent communicator

One of the most important skills you can possess as a dentist is strong communication skills. You want to explain technical information that is easy for patients to understand and educate them on their diagnosis, treatment and care. You should be able to communicate well non-verbally as well to ensure your patient feels calm and confident in your hands.

Be a Lifelong Learner

Dentistry is changing all the time. With the new advances in technology and innovative procedures, you need to stay up to date constantly. To become the best dentist you can be, you need to have a strong desire to learn new things and work towards improving your skills. Continuing education for yourself and your team will not only help to generate revenue for your practice but will set you apart from the rest.

Be a Problem Solver

Not everything is cut and dry each day at your dental practice. There will be some curve balls thrown your way, and having problem solving skills is essential to being the best dentist you can be. At times you will need to think outside the box to determine what the next step should be for each individual patient.

Be Strategic

Visualize what your ideal life in dentistry would be and be strategic about how to get there. Start out defining what success means to you, establish goals for how you intend to get there and create measurable milestones. Think long-term rather than getting too caught up in the day to day, allowing you an opportunity to really focus on what is most essential. Establishing goals and being strategic about it makes every day have a specific purpose to bring you closer and closer to success.

Start realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database today! Follow this link to request a consultation with one of our call experts, or call us today at 888.978.2615.

Dental Practice Success: Time Management in the Workplace

Do you wear lots of different hats at your office? Have you gone through an entire day and feel like you\’92ve haven\’92t accomplished anything but aren\’92t sure why? Do you find yourself unable to practice effective time management in the workplace? You\’92re not alone. A staggering 89% of respondents admitted that they waste at least half of an eight-hour workday on nonwork-related tasks and struggle with time management according to a survey on Salary.com.

You have a challenging schedule with daunting to-do lists, questions from the dentist and staff that can throw your whole day into a tailspin. It\’92s time to combat those time-wasters to increase your daily productivity levels in your dental practice.

4 Tips for Effective Time Management in the Workplace for Dental Practice Success

Plan & Prioritize

Take the time to write down your priorities for the day and week ahead of you. When you write down a list of the goals and tasks you have, you will instantly see what you need to get done in a more concise way.

Outsource

Running a dental practice can be extremely demanding. There are so many different tasks to complete in order to be successful. One of those tasks that is extremely necessary but can be exhausting and time consuming is making calls to overdue patients. Outsourcing your dental recall system will help to bring your practice fantastic results and your office\’92s time management will be on point.

Track Your Time

Look at the amount of time spent on daily tasks and procedures in a typical week. Analyzing this time spent can reveal areas where time can be saved. At times dentists perform tasks that can easily be delegated to their assistant or hygienist. Or you may find that there are some people on your staff that you can delegate tasks to\’97they may just needs a little extra training. By identifying and implementing solutions to where time is being spent\’97or not spent\’97you will increase efficiency significantly.

Huddle Up

Daily huddles in the morning before your patients arrive will help everyone to get on the same page and to set the tone for the day. Go over the list of scheduled patients coming in or any other items that need to be discussed.

Try these tips for effective time management in the workplace and everyone in your dental practice will reap the rewards of an efficient and productive day!

Learn about the best appointment reminder to get dental patients back in your chairs and begin realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database.