Welcome to the second in my six-part series exploring the reasons why you are challenged by hygiene open time.
As an owner, you always want to be aware of the Hygiene Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in your practice. Industry norm is always the goal, but if your practice numbers are not in this range, you need to set smaller goals to ensure team success.
For most practices, 10% hygiene open time is healthy. If you have less then 10%, perhaps you are not offering enough hygiene time. More than 10% means you may be offering too much hygiene time, or adjustments need to be made regarding team communication and education.
Some solutions:
- Having hygienists start the day later or leave earlier still counts as open time. This type of scheduling decreases “prime time” appointments, and in the long run, has a negative effect on the level of service offered to your patients. Avoid compressing schedules!
- Review the verbiage that your hygienists are using to educate your patients regarding their appointment intervals. Ensure that they are not using minimizing language.
- Review the verbiage and methods used by your team when booking and confirming appointments with patients.
- Use your software to full potential to manage patient outstanding hygiene appointments, perio intervals, and tools for filling same day or next day openings.
So, how would you rate your KPI awareness? To discuss and review your practice KPI’s, you can email me at cindy@yourbenchmark.ca
