PAGD Keystone Explorer Spring 2020

2 www.pagd.org | president’s message Spring is in the air, which often brings to mind the idea of refreshment or renewal. This can be of a physical nature like the spring cleaning many homes and businesses get this time of year. Or this can be in terms of reviewing both the nature of the clinical care and the business side of the practice, so as to improve both and strive for continued success in your office. When I think of how to improve things in my practice, I think of teambuilding and improving the interaction of the entire team with our patients first. As the saying for TEAM goes—Together Everyone Accomplishes More. The first step in improving the Oral Health Care Team in any office is to first know the goals of that office. The vision and values of the owner/owners and the business model chosen for the practice will set the tone and the team needs to follow the resulting clinical and business protocols for the office. These may differ greatly from one office to the next—consider how operations may differ from a DSO to a PPO practice to a public health facility to a fee for service practice. Once these office protocols are established training can be developed to maximize the treatment and business outcomes, the idea being to create uniformity in patient treatment and team unity in how to provide it properly. When looking to the task of team building in a dental practice consideration must be given to having the right type of people on the office staff. Again, this may differ from one office to the next, from one type of dental business to another. Peoples’ attitudes and perceptions of their role in an office can vary greatly, with one person seeing themselves as simply an employee and another feeling that they are an important, integral part of an oral health care team. One person sees their position as a job while another feels that they have found a career/profession. Again, which truly best serves the needs of any given practice may differ, but I like to go by the adage of “Hire for Attitude, Train for Aptitude.” If a person has the right mentality for that office, he/she can always be trained to follow the office’s practices and protocols. Finally, in creating the ideal team for an office there needs to be a return on their investment, so to speak. In my office, my philosophy starts with always providing the best clinical care and overall office experience that we can for each and every patient. I feel that if we do that consistently, we will exceed our patient’s expectations and create very satisfied and loyal patients who will keep coming to our office and speak well of us to others, thus building our reputation and creating referrals. And if a team unified in the vision and message of the office creates success for it then they should benefit as well. Again, how this happens will differ from one office to another, but if the team sees their efforts being rewarded they will want to work harder for it. So whether it is an Associate Dentist, a Hygienist, a Dental Assistant, or an Office Patient Care Coordinator, if someone sees their hard work result in increased wages, better benefits, better office equipment/technology to work with, or something else that he/she values then they will see the value of teamwork. Building a great Oral Health Care Team can at times be difficult and even frustrating. But if done well and monitored over time, a well-thought-out strategy of team building can be very rewarding both personally and professionally. If you start with a vision and set of values, work on carefully hiring the right people, implement an effective training program, and give the team something they value for their efforts, you can create a culture of teamwork that will lead to office success and an office that is fun and rewarding to be a part of for everyone on the team. Spring Cleaning Scott Hudimac, DDS, MAGD “Building a great Oral Health Care Team can at times be diffi- cult and even frustrating. But if done well and monitored over time, a well-thought- out strategy of team building can be very rewarding both personally and professionally.”