Making the most of your time
UncategorisedPosted by: Dental Design 11th December 2020
Now, more than ever before, time in practice is worth its weight in gold. As regulations and guidelines continue to evolve in response to the pandemic, it’s likely that all dental professionals are still facing difficulties adjusting to these changes and balancing time in a way that not only benefits your patients, but your practice as well.
Indeed, with fallow periods between each patient and other drastic changes to daily workflows, it can feel like you have either extra time on your hands or not enough depending on what you’re doing to fill the gaps. As such, it’s vital to make the most of any time you do have.
Keeping up to date
Uncertainty is a buzzword for 2020, but that shouldn’t be the case in your practice. Although we are still far from the norm, you can inject a sense of stability into your practice by spending a portion of time each day ensuring that all staff are completely up to date with all of the latest protocols and that they fully understand what these changes entail.
It’s very easy to get lost and make mistakes when guidance is not set in stone, so by taking the time to address changes as they come to light you can help guarantee that your whole team are on board and confident in their responsibilities.
Of course, patients need to be kept in the loop as well. This may be as simple as sending out an email or a text message to your patient list explaining any relevant changes, but you may need to set aside time to phone patients and provide a more personal service too depending on the demographics that your practice attracts.
Fine tune your business
The time spent on the business aspects of running a dental practice shouldn’t be underrated. Restrictions to normal services is a good opportunity to review how your business operates to benefit you in the long run.
This doesn’t have to be big financial investments, especially as these may not be viable at the moment. Instead, it’s a chance to explore the inner workings of your business and see if there are any improvements to be made. It’s likely that you have already spent time evaluating and enhancing your infection control protocols, but what about aspects such as how you contact patients and book appointments? Have you considered introducing online booking, for example?
It’s these little changes that take time to fully explore and that can have a substantial impact on your practice moving forwards, especially when/if services return to how they were before the pandemic.
Develop the skills of your staff
One huge bonus to having more available time in practice is that this can be used to help your team branch out, learn new skills and grow in their roles.
This is another opportunity to speak to individuals in the team and see where they want to take their roles and what can be done to achieve these goals. There may now be the opportunity to integrate online training programmes and other helpful changes into daily schedules for some individuals, and this is something that will definitely benefit your practice in the long run.
Not only will this help bring new skills and diversify the skillset of your overall team, but by helping people to explore parts of their job that they’re interested in, you’re likely to help raise morale and craft a better, more understanding and supportive workplace.
Is there ever enough time?
Of course, if you do decide to take the bull by the horns and change how you spend time in practice, it’s likely you’ll soon be in the same position as before – feeling slightly stretched for time to do the less inspiring aspects of dental practice management.
Necessities such as air compressor maintenance can be time-consuming and difficult to balance against other responsibilities, regardless of how you are spending your time at present. As such, it makes sense to delegate this responsibility to the experts so that you can reclaim this time and use it more fruitfully.
DentalAir has different air compressor maintenance and repair policies available for practices who want to keep their air compressor upkeep as stress-free as possible. For ultimate peace of mind, the Total Air Care package includes installation of a brand new oil-free air compressor that supplies sterile air, as well as regular maintenance and swift, nation breakdown service. It covers all bases so that you don’t have to worry at all.
Value each moment
Time is a fickle thing, but that doesn’t mean it can’t always be harnessed for better use. By making the most of any excess time and putting measures into place that will allow you to use your time better when services return more to normal, you can help your practice excel.
For more information, please contact DentalAir at info@dentalair.com or call 0800 975 7530
No Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
