#911: Building Your Perfect Day Is as Easy as This

Often when scheduling appointments, it’s all about the patient. But what about the doctor or team members? Britt and Tiff give tips for scheduling while keeping efficiency and quality in mind (for both parties).

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Britt

Tune Into DAT’s Monthly Webinar

Practice Momentum Group Consulting

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:01.057)

Hello everyone out there listening. I am so excited to be here today. I have snagged the one and only Britt Stone again today to do some podcasting with me. Britt, how are you today?

Britt (00:13.087)

doing great. I mean, we're cooling off a little here in Arizona and it's a great time of year. Fall's beautiful.

The Dental A Team (00:19.89)

I agree. I loved the weekend weather. I know you weren't here for all of it. You had an awesome vacation, but it was really truly beautiful. And then I saw, well, Sunday got a little bit warmer. We went for a hike and we were like, well, this is a little bit warmer. And then I saw, gosh, by Thursday we're supposed to be like 95 again. So it's only here for, I think the heat's only here for a moment again. And then we'll drop back down, but it has been a wild.

summer, like it's still summer here. I don't know how we're still experiencing summer. And I know, Brett, you and I both grew up here and I think people always ask us like, how do you do it? And we're like, I don't know, it's like three months of heat. And I think this year they challenged us and they were like, the universe was like, I'm gonna give you six months. And then their nature said, no, we're gonna like see if you can handle this. I feel as though I've never experienced anything like this in my life of living here.

Britt (01:10.389)

I mean, we broke some records. Sometimes that's an exciting thing and sometimes that's not an exciting thing to say.

The Dental A Team (01:16.857)

Totally agree. Not the records I wanted to break, but that's okay. We're still alive. You guys were still surviving. and I think we both probably, yeah. And I think we both probably can still say that we love where we live. So I love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you for being here. today I really wanted to pick your brain on some efficient appointment, scheduling, tips and tricks for the doctors out there. I really want to speak to, we always speak to both doctors and teams, but I really wanted to speak to doctors today and I wanted to

Britt (01:23.351)

I'm not trying any place.

The Dental A Team (01:46.223)

pick your brain a little extra because I you've really, really hard on some efficiency tips within the, you know, cost world as well. So we'll dive more into that. But Britt, from hygiene perspective as well, dental assistant perspective, we've got all of those different spaces. I'm really, really looking at efficient appointment scheduling. And for me, I'm constantly reminding teams, team members and

doctors because I think doctors will stick their foot in their mouth sometimes too, to really, really look at what's working well for your practices flow. Like what's going to work best for you. And as the doctor of the practice, like when do you want to do these appointments? Do you want to do a root canal at 8 a.m.? Maybe possibly like do the root canal at 8 a.m. Right? Do you want to do a root canal at 2 p.m.? Would you rather do it, you know, after lunch, before lunch? Like where do you feel the most yourself?

and the happiest to do these procedures because if we're just constantly looking at where the patient wants to come in, what's convenient for the patient, that's not always going to give them the best experience. So in that moment of scheduling.

The patient might be excited and happy because they got the appointment that they wanted, but when they get there for the appointment, are they getting the best experience that they possibly can based on the flow and energy of the practice? Or did we just schedule you something super late in the day when you're exhausted and tired and you've been working so hard or you had pizza for lunch and you're like, I don't want to do this freaking root canal. Like, I don't know. know my doctor that I worked with side by side for years, hated nothing more than coming back from lunch and having

fillings, like interproximal fillings and crown seats for three hours. He was like, this is going to be the worst three hours of the day because it was so much movement. It's like, just want one crowd, like, or one long appointment, right? Like I just needed one patient with three crowns. Like I just want one something long that we can just sit down, dig in, be done. All of that like crazy running around and like sporadic energy.

The Dental A Team (03:48.869)

for him needed to be earlier in the day when he was more like spry, right? He's just like ready to run. And I could appreciate that too because I felt the very same. And so when we figured that out for this doctor specifically, we were able to really switch the way the day works. It was better for me as his assistant.

It was easier for me when I was doing scheduling and the patients actually had a better experience. So when I think of effective and efficient appointment scheduling, it's one of the first places that my brain goes is really what does the doctor want? I think we tend to look at what do our patients want? What does our team want? Our team wants easy and it's easy to let the patient dictate the schedule. But we forget to say the doctors, what do you want your day to look like? And I think

Today, focusing super hard on that doctor aspect and really leveling up how much the doctors take into consideration and take that control on within that is what I'm here for today. Britt, what are your thoughts on that efficient appointment scheduling and from a doctor's side, like a doctor's angle, what could that look like for them?

Britt (05:00.515)

with you and everyone's different right some doctors want the big things in the morning and the smaller things in the afternoon some function the opposite and the reason why ultimately we want to know what doctor wants and how they're gonna work best is because one when doctors always are limiting factor right so like when we can have them functioning at their best everything's gonna run a little bit smoother and so like you said when it comes to guiding patients in the schedule think of

What's going to help everything over all run smoother? Because that's going to give the patient a better experience. The team's going to be functioning a little bit better. The day's just going to run smoother when our limiting factor, which is doctor, is able to function at their best. And when they're functioning at their best, they're also going to be the most efficient. So I love that when it comes to taking that into account.

And we'll talk about some things today that are even some like good like numbers or metrics to know of and be aware of to see like, it working? Is it not? Where are we? What can we improve upon? Right? Because at the end of the day, I know all my doctors, right? We want to be able to also like produce as much as we can in the time we're there, right? You're spending time away from your family, you're working. So how can we do the most with the time that you are spending at the office? And it does come down to scheduling and there's some ways to track it to know exactly how we're doing.

with this, whenever I start to talk numbers, I'll always say, we always want patient experience to be fantastic. And of course, quality of work to be fantastic, which we know you guys do as well. And there is a point where you can like push that line a little too far. So when we're talking about these things, even when it comes to scheduling, quality of work and quality of patient experience are always top of mind. we make sure we remember those. But some good numbers to look at to see how we're doing when it comes to scheduling will be like your doctor

production per hour. So do you know how it's averaging out so you can take your whole entire month? How many hours did you work in that month, are patient hours? We know you guys work a lot more hours, but how many patient hours did you work? And what's your production per hour? Because that's when it comes to efficiency or how is our block schedule working. That's kind of what we're playing with is how much can you do within the time that you have? And if that number is low or not where we need it to be, then

Britt (07:17.377)

How can we be more efficient, schedule more appropriately with the correct production, or tighten up the schedule if we can and still giving that a great experience and the quality that we need to have there. What can we do to get that production per hour up? So it's a good number for doctors to track. If you don't know your number, figure it out, super easy. What did you produce last month? How many patient hours did you have available on the schedule?

divide it and it'll give you your production per hour and then you know where you're starting and then you know where you can go.

The Dental A Team (07:51.121)

I love to do that formula as well in looking for ope