Division of Duties in a Dental Practice, Part 2: The Scheduling Coordinator

Credit Details
This electronically delivered self-instructional program is designated for 1.5 hours of CE credit by Farran Media.
AGD Code: 550.

There is no fee to view this course. There is a fee of $36 to take the exam and claim CE credits for this course.

Synopsis:
Time is every practice’s most valuable asset and one of the most important systems in the practice is scheduling. The success of every dental practice starts with the schedule. It can create stress, or it can create great success. Practice owners would like to avoid roller-coaster production numbers, broken appointments, poor patient retention, and growing unscheduled treatment lists, yet they often fail to appoint someone to remedy these issues. Dental teams tend to be robotic when it comes to their schedule, putting patients on it without a plan and even without financial arrangements. When the team starts the day and learns there are holes in the schedule, it leads to the doctor having nonproductive procedures. As patients cancel and those slots are not refilled, production goals are not met. There will always be chaos and unpredictability when everyone on the team is overscheduling and no one person has been appointed to be the scheduling coordinator. Most practices have never set up security levels in their software, so anyone on the team can undermine the efforts of the scheduler and call patients to come early—or even cancel them as they see fit. Even after appointing a scheduling coordinator, the practice may still struggle if that person still wears other hats and is unable to focus on actions that align with the position, putting the schedule on the back burner when it should be the most important front-office function. Nothing else matters if the schedule is not full and productive.

Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Recognize the benefits of having a designated scheduler.
• Hire or appoint the best person for the job.
• Know the successful actions of the position.
• Create a job description.
• Figure production goals.
• Implement key scheduling systems.

Description of Speaker:
Sandy Pardue is an author, practice-management consultant and an internationally recognized lecturer. For over 25 years, she has assisted hundreds of doctors with practice expansion and staff development. She is known for her comprehensive and interesting approach to dental office systems, and offers a refreshing point of view on how to make a dental practice more efficient and productive.

Disclosure:
The author declares that she has a financial interest in consulting dental professionals in the subject matter she has written about.

Legal Disclaimer:
The CE provider (Farran Media) uses reasonable care in selecting and providing content that is accurate. The CE provider, however, does not independently verify the content or materials. The CE provider does not represent that the instructional materials are error-free or that the content or materials are comprehensive. Any opinions expressed in the materials are those of the author of the materials and not the CE provider. Completing one or more continuing education courses does not provide sufficient information to qualify the participant as an expert in the field related to the course topic or in any specific technique or procedure. The instructional materials are intended to supplement, but are not a substitute for, the knowledge, expertise, skill and judgment of a trained health care professional.

Licensure:
Continuing education credits issued for completion of online CE courses may not apply toward license renewal in all licensing jurisdictions. It is the responsibility of each registrant to verify the CE requirements of his/her licensing or regulatory agency.

State CE Requirements:
Click Here for CE requirements by state. Please note that this information is current as of the time of listing. This information is subject to change at any time from the state boards. For the most up-to-date information, please contact your state board directly.

Refund Policy
There are no refunds for Online CE courses. Please contact technical support if you run into technical difficulty.

CE Contact
For any questions, please contact Nareg Apelian, DMD, Director of Continuing Education at nareg@farranmedia.com