At the heart of dentistry lies one key principle: to effect positive change to benefit patients’ overall health and wellbeing. A dental team collaborates to deliver this care either with direct treatment or via education.
Improving quality of life with effective treatments is an everyday expectation – and addressing what has gone before often helps to shape future successful outcomes.
Inevitably, this process requires change – the honing of clinical skills, the upgrading of a practice’s treatment delivery and equipment, and the broadening of knowledge to expand the skillsets of the team. In essence, change drives dentistry and no clinician should resist the inevitability of progressive health care.
Indeed, in any healthcare setting, patients deserve treatments that meet their unique needs rather than what is most convenient. Additionally, there is a constant need to develop a business but clinicians can struggle to embrace change beyond the four walls of the surgery – and may actually choose to stick with what is ‘most convenient’. In some cases, dentists may know their practice needs to change to remain viable but are so busy focusing on clinical upgrades or careers that, struck with paralysis, they do nothing.
Any business must look back to move forward and a reflective approach to its development is a good one – often requiring dentists and teams to plan well ahead and work with experts in fields where they have less experience.
Collaboration is a key part of health care. It is also a component of good commerce – and, whether you source support within your team or from outside agencies, the wider you cast your net, the more knowledge you share, the better the feedback and more valuable the input.
Understanding, identifying and overcoming barriers to change is important. Here, we look at some other considerations…
6 steps to towards making a change…
1. Mirror your approach to patient care and keep apace with new thinking in the world of commerce and marketing. Adapt to economic pressures and seek ways to boost numbers and maximise profits without compromise to existing loyal patients. The solution may simply lie in a change in your practice branding or the dental plan you currently offer.
2. Invest time in engaging with experts experienced in the field of ‘change’ and on whom you can be sure of support. Speak to your mentors or other dentists first who have altered the way they operate – and found success.
3. A sound investment must always reap benefits. Do you have a fear of disruption? Invest in systems that are designed to slot seamlessly into your treatment protocols and the day-to-day running of your practice.
4. Streamline the running of your practice by looking to others to administer areas of your business – a good dental plan provider should always offer on-going administrative support.
5. A happy patient experience makes for a happy team – and will improve clinical outcomes, drive up referrals and encourage higher treatment uptake, too! Offer your patients easy ways to pay for treatment. Take time to explain what a plan can deliver; patient communication is important. Alternatively, speak to a plan provider with a dedicated team who can spend time in your practice explaining what change means – to patients and team.
6. Look beyond the ‘here and now’ and take a long-term view. Many dentists who make a transition to a practice-branded plan say their business has seen a tangible increase in the number of patients on the plan. Speak to a provider with case studies to share, a willingness to help create a tailored plan and with a team that can offers hands-on advice to help you diversify and develop.
Any good practice-branded plan provider should offer a high level of support for those looking to make changes. Its team should be on hand to ensure a smooth transition as well as secure other customer service benefits so that when a practice does decide to take the plunge and change what it offers its patients, they are perfectly placed to assist a business through the process.
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