TOP 3 THINGS THAT CAUSE A PRACTICE TO RUN BEHIND, AND WAYS TO REDUCE THEM:
Every practice runs behind from time to time for numerous reasons that can’t be controlled, such as treatment gone wrong, late patients, and other situations that can’t be controlled. However, the following three areas, based on our experience, can be minimized to help support staying on schedule.
NUMBER 1: How long does it take for the Doctor to get in for the hygiene exam?
If you’re waiting until the end of the hygiene appointment to do the patient exam, chances are you will run behind. Instead, we suggest the hygienists let the Doctors know they are available for an exam at any time once the prophy has started. This means, after the following areas have been discussed: medical history information, patient concerns, necessary X-rays, and perio evaluation, and blatant clinical findings.
When the hygienist can give the Doctor 30- to 40-minute window of time to get in for the evaluation, it allows more flexibility, especially in situations where there are multiple hygiene exams.
NUMBER 2: How long does it take the Doctor to get out of the hygiene exam?
Doctors can help support this by being aware of personal chatter and assuring it is kept to a minimum. A great phrase for any clinical team member to use to break away from patient/personal discussion is, “Mrs. Smith, we love having you here and I could talk to you all day, however, it’s time for us to get to work!”
Large treatment plans or multiple clinical needs are other reasons exams go long. The most important thing you can do in these situations is to calibrate your clinical policies. In other words, if hygienists have a good idea of the likelihood of Doctor recommendations are going to be, they can prepare the patient in advance for those recommendations, and the Doctor doesn’t need to spend as much time explaining. However, hygienists: it’s important that you tell the Doctor that you have explained to the patient, “It’s likely the Doctor is going to recommend a number of fillings, as I see suspicious areas on the X-rays. While we wait and see what he/she says, I’m going to go over some of the treatments and the needs that you have.” The more prepared the patient is before the Doctor enters for the exam, the less the Doctor has to talk.
Recommend Consults: When patients have numerous needs, we encourage the clinical team to use phrases such as, “Mr. Jones, I can see that you have numerous areas of concern on the X-ray, and of course we will wait to see what the Doctor says; but it’s likely that he/she will recommend a consult. In situations like these, it’s likely the Doctor will want to review your X-rays in detail and create a plan moving forward.”
When the Doctor enters for the exam, the hygienist should then let the Doctor know, “Doctor, I noticed on the X-rays that there are a number of suspicious areas, and I’ve told Shelly that it’s likely you will recommend a consult to allow you to put a plan together for her needs, but we’re waiting to hear what you say.”
NUMBER 3: Emergency Patients
In situations where schedules are jammed up and there is simply nowhere to place an emergency patient, often practices will “squeeze” patients into the schedule. Instead, if you do not have emergency blocks or any time available, we recommend that you use the “urgent care” option.
“Mrs. Murphy, why don’t you come right over? You will have to wait, but the Doctor will see you and at least identify what’s going on and make you comfortable.” This has 2 advantages, the first being if it’s a true emergency, the patient will come right over! The second being that every practice has changes in their schedules, and it may work better to slide a patient into the schedule if someone gets done early or a patient doesn’t show up.
Be sure you are taking advantage of any open hygiene time for emergency patients. If a hygienist has a half hour or more available in their schedule, you can seat the emergency patient in their room.
While nothing works 100%, 100% of the time, these ideas have proven to help hundreds of practices, and they can help yours too! Call us today if you want more information or help implementing these areas.
written by:Shelly Ryan