Communication With Your Team: How to Be Hands Off and Still Be Hands On

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Successful communication is a key component for a thriving dental practice. Effective internal, interoffice communication is essential for ensuring efficiency in your day-to-day operations. It allows for everyone—from the doctor, hygienists, office managers, practice administrators and assistants—to have a sense of what’s happening in the practice any time throughout the day. Staff knows exactly what needs to be done based on their specific role in the practice and can seamlessly operate in their function with ease.

One way to achieve a hands-on approach with effective practice communication, while being completely hands off, is to implement an integrated healthcare management solution. With the digital automation these tools provide, communication with your team is simple, seamless and reliable.

One key way these platforms accommodate this is through effective task management, assignment and notes to the team. Task management and notes automatically let you and your staff know what’s happening in the practice and what their responsibilities are.

Team members are juggling multiple tasks in their workday. These manual tasks that team members participate in for a patient’s dental visit are typically characterized by data entry, followed by decision-making. With an automated solution, data entry is minimized and errors reduced in the practice with pre-built workflows. In return, your team saves time, no longer experiences unnecessary friction, and quality of patient care is improved as a result.

Practice owners can manage all assigned tasks across the organization, tracking variables such as task status, due dates, and reminders. Notes with additional details can also be included for greater detail and context. This holistic approach to task management ensures everyone in the practice knows what they’re required to do for the day and results are easily communicated and shared between parties.

For example, tasks can be assigned to:

  • Receptionists to follow-up with a patient or call the insurance company
  • Office personnel to contact the IT team for technology support or resolve a facility issue
  • Dental assistants to confirm adequate supply of materials and tools for the upcoming month
  • Hygienists or dental assistants to conduct an oral health assessment on a new patient, prepare and take x-rays, or perform dental cleaning

Important tasks no longer get missed or forgotten and your team feels empowered to hit the ground running the moment they clock in.

There are other ways that an integrated healthcare management solution supports effective communication in your practice.

Like practice owners and managers, dentists can communicate with personnel on different types of workflows, as well as easily assign and manage daily tasks for personnel across various job roles within the practice. They can also connect with and streamline their communication with other dentists or specialists for peer review processes, patient referrals, and other practice matters.

Hygienists, dental assistants, office and admin staff can communicate with dentists and managers efficiently and reliably in return. They can access online HR forms and documents, such as contracts and proof of employment forms, eliminating the need to make a direct request for copies or get access to them. And all personnel across the organization can be viewed on one scheduler to create an event and invite employees; and view and apply for job postings. Plus, they can easily request leave or request to work on different dates/times in different offices (in a multi-office organization).

This staff scheduling is a huge component of effective practice communications, but can be complex and time consuming. It doesn’t have to be complicated however. You can create and communicate schedules in just minutes and manage time off, availability and shift requests, track employee hours, and overtime scheduling with ease. In return, you will reduce absenteeism and late arrivals, and handle unexpected changes without adding unnecessary stress and frustration to your day.

You can also streamline internal communication and create a collaborative environment no matter where your staff or colleagues are by sending messages in group or private conversations. This keeps everyone informed, gives employees a voice, and in return, builds a better company culture that fosters employee satisfaction and retention.

Dental practices face the challenge of communicating efficiently between all levels of the organization: dentists, dental associates, pharmacists, peers (e.g., specialists), patients, administrative staff, and suppliers of goods and services. Without a streamlined, secure, and centralized communication system practices struggle to ensure dentists and staff have the resources they need to deliver high-quality patient care and manage the business requirements of the practice. With an integrated healthcare management solution, this is easily achieved.

For more tips on managing your practice effectively, download our Ultimate Guide to Creating Order from Chaos in Your Dental Practice.