Food for thought: Pat Langley shares a few quick wins to keep your practice thriving throughout the year.
Despite our best intentions on 2 January, I think we all know that our resolutions rarely make it past the first week of the year!
To avoid the inevitable disappointment this brings, let’s think about some things you could do differently and some things to be aware of.
Here’s a list of quick wins to consider:
1. Be on virus alert
It won’t come as any surprise to anyone unfortunate enough to have succumbed to one of several very unpleasant viruses doing the rounds that we are living through what has imaginatively been dubbed a quademic. Seasonal flu, a resurgent COVID-19, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), and norovirus are all currently wreaking havoc. Some poor people are unlucky enough to contract two or more of these at once.
Why is this the first item on our list of quick wins you may ask? The answer is simple: a dental team paralysed by multiple viral attacks is going to lead to cancelled days and all the inconvenience that entails, not to mention decreased productivity.
Mitigating the risks of this happening therefore counts as a quick win.
What does this mean in practice?
- Encourage team members with symptoms of any of these viruses to stay at home until their symptoms reduce and they no longer feel unwell. This is not always a popular suggestion if it involves not being paid for time off work. It will, however, pay dividends to the practice if it avoids a mini epidemic in the workplace because other team members become unwell and are unable to work
- Consider delaying non-urgent appointments for patients who feel unwell or who have transmissible symptoms. While this is the right thing to do for patients, it also helps mitigate the potential for spread within the practice team
- Maintain scrupulous hand hygiene. With thorough handwashing to two rounds of ‘Happy Birthday’ now as distant a memory as mince pies now feels, it is well-documented that scrupulous handwashing is extremely important in reducing the spread of all infectious diseases
- Ensure frequently touched surfaces throughout the practice are cleaned thoroughly and frequently according to your environmental cleaning policy
- Immunisations – consider immunisations where applicable
- Consider reintroducing some of your risk-mitigation measures from the time COVID-19 was a major threat eg FFP3 or FFP2 masks
- Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing and maintain scrupulous respiratory hygiene. Catch coughs and sneezes in a tissue and immediately dispose of used tissues into a closed bin.
2. Small changes as a team
We all get used to doing things the same way we’ve always done them and with humans often preferring to avoid change, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut.
Think about everything you do in the practice and consider what small changes you could make to your systems and processes that would make your practice run more smoothly. Include the whole team in this exercise and make it a rule that all constructive ideas have merit and should be explored. Often significant improvements can grow out of ideas that at first may sound far-fetched.
For example, ask yourselves:
- Is our recall system cost effective and efficient?
- Is our laboratory work always here when we are expecting it?
- Are all our policies up to date with a review date?
- Do we have more practice policies than we really need, or could we declutter our policies?
- Does our system for emergency cover work efficiently and effectively or could we improve on it?
- Do we have a good understanding of what our patients and staff think and how they rate us? If the answer is no, or we’re not sure, consider gathering feedback and discussing it at a
team meeting.
3. Appreciate your whole team
Every member of your team plays an important role in the smooth running of your practice.
With retention and the current difficulties with recruitment well-documented as one of the biggest concerns practices are facing, retaining good team members has never been more important.
Think about how you can show your appreciation of and to every member of your dental team.
For example, ask yourselves:
- How do we define our whole team?
- Do we include the cleaner?
- Do we regularly thank everyone for their contributions, or could we do more to show our team how much we appreciate them?
4. Plan your CPD for the year
Think about what you want to achieve in the coming year. Do you need to attend courses to help you develop new skills or to enhance existing skills? Dental professionals can often get stuck in a CPD rut and end up doing the same courses year after year.
Think about professional development for all team members and ask the same questions.
Think about how you will achieve blended learning. The GDC rightly places significant emphasis on a combination of different types of learning. Make sure you plan for what you will do face-to-face, what you will do online eg webinars, and what you will do as online CPD.
Will you attend any of the dental shows, which often feature free CPD lectures delivered by well-respected, credible speakers?
All in all, a lot to think about, and this is by no means an exhaustive list of things you could think about. I hope it has created some ‘food for thought’ to get started!
Follow Dentistry on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
Save 40.0% on select products from L&L First Aid with promo code 40G4RTOE, through 4/11 while supplies last.
Source link