How to run your schedule so that it doesn’t run you!

Do you have a scheduling system?   

A common response to this question two years ago would have been  'not really but we block spaces for emergency patients’

If I asked that same question today, it would be an overwhelming 'yes' because practices have been forced into managing the clinical times with efficiency due to covid restrictions. 

The Standard Operating Procedures have forced order into scheduling and patient management throughout the practice. This has given us all the opportunity to pave a new way of working that is productive, stress-free, and organised.

Do these common problems pre-covid sound familiar?

• Being busy, but busy with low producing treatments.
• Booked over your lunch or need to stay late.
• Having an RCT squeezed in at the end of the day – you know you are going to be late just by looking at your schedule.
• Not being able to accommodate patients but big gaps suddenly appear in your diary.
• Lots of emergencies in your schedule

In these busy crazy times your internal dialogue could sound like this:

“Who would put an emergency in at this time?'

"Why would someone put a small appointment in the middle of the morning, a bigger appointment could have gone in there"

"Why am I seeing the associates emergency today"

"I can’t believe anyone would put Mrs …. Right in the middle of the busy after school spell"

This has negative effects on your energy and you deserve to be at your best within an organised structure allowing you to place your focus on your patients and in delivering excellent dentistry.

 Why have we allowed ourselves to work in this way?

Very often practices run with no to minimal guidance on how the schedule is managed and it is commonly left to the reception team who are equipped with no plan other than to fill the schedule. Therefore, they just keep filling it up as is required of them.

It's common to look at the front desk when things don't go to plan but the reality of working in 'front-of-house' is that it can be tough.   Some can naturally stay in control while delivering customer service while others totally allow the patients to dictate and control their actions.

When you allow patients to dictate and there is no system in place, ultimately this is felt in the clinical area.  Many practices have run like this for years and created a norm that doesn't even seem like a problem.

If this sounds like your practice read on to discover why you need to take control of your schedule so that your schedule doesn’t control you.

Healthy Schedule = Healthy Clinician

The schedule is the main crossover system between the clinical and business teams and you all have to be working together on what you want the schedule to look like while looking after your patients at the same time.

A healthy schedule will give you:

1. Financial control
2. Is a direct reflection of your clinical effectiveness
3. It provides a clear framework for everyone to work within
4. It helps you provide a great service to your patients and prevents patients from dictating  to you

Financial Control

Using blocks to zone the appointment book into sections will allow for different types of treatments. This enables you to accommodate the clinical needs of your patients as well as gaining financial control. In addition, you can reserve spaces for new patients and emergency appointments.  This will ensure that every type of patient is accommodated in a timely manner.  The daily blocks for higher-value treatments are the simplest way to gain financial control. 

As long as you never violate the rules and never put lower value treatments in the high-value zone you will be reassured of a specific minimum revenue for each day. 

If you reach the point of not being able to accommodate the high-value treatments, this would tell you that you need more hours or need to expand in some way.  If these are in cyclical bursts or inconsistent, you may choose to open up the schedule for additional high-value treatments.  This will lessen the pressure of you always feeling forced to work extra to accommodate higher-value treatments.  

Please note, that lower value treatments are not less important but this system of zoning allows you to gain control of your schedule. 

A direct reflection of your clinical effectiveness

In general dentistry, there is always a combination of higher value single tooth dentistry items such as crowns or veneers vs. medium level restorations and bonding.  A healthy dental practice providing a wide scope of treatments should ideally demonstrate a  50-50 divide.

Your schedule will become a tracking tool and also allow you to screen for diagnosis continuity.  

An example: You notice your schedule has a 25%-75% split of medium to high-value restoration. This would suggest the clinician is treatment planning comprehensively, although the schedule may require restructuring.  You further identify that your associate has a 75%-25% spilt- suggesting more single tooth treatment options are being planned.  Your aiming for all patients to receive continuity within the practice and this allows for team training around comprehensive treatment planning.

It provides a clear framework for the team

The schedule cannot be the sole responsibility of the 'front of house', although their role is to run and manage it.  It needs to be designed with the clinician's input and their role is to nurture and feed it.  

An example: A clinician can discuss treatment options with patients and explain the timeframe required, explaining the ideal clinical interval ie: 'decay should be managed as soon as possible as leaving until your next examination leaves you at risk of progression of the disease';  The clinical has 'built the urgency' the patient can better understand and the clinician has set the scene for the front-of-house to guide the patient into the pre-blocked schedule.

Managing the patient whilst delivering excellent service

As a clinician, the advice we give to the patient regarding the next appointment needs to be specific to the benefits of that next appointment (because that is the best way to build value and in preventing cancellations).  By doing this you save yourself from feeling pressurised to stay late to accommodate and you also avoid potential conflict at the front desk.

e.g. "Mr Smith, we need to do a root treatment on that tooth and we don't want to delay that because there is a risk of infection flaring up which could cause you pain.  I know that you like after 5 pm but it is unlikely the schedule can accommodate that time, so what I am going to do is ask Linda at the front desk to accommodate you as best as we can and if it isn't possible she will place you on my priority list.   If any changes in the schedule arise you will be the first person we will contact"

This places the responsibility on the patient to organise their life to get the treatment within an adequate time frame and not you bending over to the patient's potential inflexibility.  You have stated that they are your priority and so you are upholding a high level of customer service at the same time. This then makes the front desk person the hero rather than the barrier between what the patient wants and needs.

Scheduling is one of the most important and dynamic business systems in your dental practice and it requires planning, managing, nurturing, and evaluating.   To learn more about our online scheduling for success online course click the image below: