I am sure that I am like many of those out there right now who have had extra time on their hands to think of how we are going to restart an industry and more precisely our practices in a way that will be two steps forward instead of many steps backward. For myself, I have made the decision that my services will be complimentary for all of my clients during this time as well as any dentists that may contact me with questions.
Just as COVID updates change daily, my thoughts are changing daily as to solutions when practices start up again. There will be no definitive solution for any practice but as these thoughts formulate I will share them with you on a weekly basis. Anything you want me to expand on feel free to connect with me, also share these ideas with any other dental contacts you may have, I am happy to help others through this.
1- Have you connected your home computer to your office computer yet? Anydesk is a free service that works quite well. This is a great time for you to learn some of the reports and workings of your software. This may be a daunting task but learning your software reports will be very helpful in tracking your return.
2- When we return to work it will be on a fresh slate, perhaps think now of all the things you would like to change in the office, any bad habits or systems? This can be presented to team in a positive manner in a team meeting before the start of seeing patients when you return.
3- RCDSO or ODA will likely provide you with a letter for patients stating that dental offices have always been safer than a physicians office but I suggest you start preparing a letter your practice to add to the “official” message for your patients welcoming them back into your safe space.
4- Some of the patients who we have worked so hard to accept perio intervals will now be behind in their schedule. When rescheduling these patients we should be letting them know that they will be in the office for an extra ten minutes so that we are able to ensure that their bacteria load is being maintained. (Your hygienists will need this time and will be able to bill for it).
5- Ensure that all appointments that were scheduled for patients have been cancelled and not deleted so that they end up on the proper list. If you delete them you will lose all of those patients from your lists.
6- You can set up zoom meeting with your team for everyone to check in socially and remain connected.
At this time we are all facing new challenges but also seeing hope and kindness in places we haven’t noticed before. We are also chuckling at too many memes on Facebook and Instagram.
Instead of thinking negatively about how this is affecting your livelihood, let’s try to think about this equation, E+R= O and switch to positivity. The E is the event, the R is your response and the O is the outcome. The + is the story you make up in your head. If we take this shutdown as the Event, your Response is tempered by the opportunities you imagine and your Outcome will be tempered by how you handle your thoughts. Let’s take this time to make our Outcomes positive.
