https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F8S_pGqR_s

Carrie Webber:

Welcome to the Jameson Files. I'm Carrie Webber, and I'm so glad that you're joining us today for another episode. If you're a part of our Jameson Files community, thank you so much for staying connected with us. I'm excited to be with my teammate and friend Dru Halverson, the chief of advisor development here at Jameson. I really appreciate you being with me again, Dru.

Dru Halverson:

You are welcome! Thank you so much for having me.

How can you improve the hygiene aspect of your dental practice?

Carrie Webber:

You know, what I wanted to talk about today is something that we haven't really started diving into in the podcast. And I know that it is a top area of concern or opportunity. A lot of doctors that I talk to, one of their big questions is how do they improve the hygiene aspect of their practices? And that’s not necessarily the actual care that's being provided. We know that they're going to give good care, right? It's more about how do we do this more effectively, more efficiently, and how do we become more productive in the hygiene departments of our practices? How do we engage our hygiene team at another level to help us with the overall patient experience and relationship with us? So I wanted you to come and join me today so that we could talk about high-performing hygiene, what that means in general terms, but also how we can take our practices from being good in the hygiene realm to being great.

So Dru, when practices share that they want to improve in hygiene, what are some questions that you ask them? When they share that as a goal, that they want to go from good to great in hygiene, what are some questions that you ask to really start getting a sense of where their opportunities are?

Determine what your practice’s hygiene strengths and weaknesses are.

Dru Halverson:

Well, I want to know what weaknesses and strengths they see in their hygiene department. And I can always get a lot of strengths and some really good weaknesses from that question alone. So if you can draw a line down the middle of the page and put strengths on one side and weaknesses on another or opportunities that you see, then you can have a really good list of what to work on and what to pat yourself on the back about. And that makes a big difference. I always want to know how patients feel at the end of their appointment. Are they checking in with their patients? Are they always asking the patients, how was the appointment? Also do they continue to stay with you and return on a regular basis? Do they love coming to the practice for their hygiene appointments? That is a good question to ask them: what is the retention rate and how many patients are past due? And then also, I like to know treatment acceptance from not only restorative care, but also hygiene care. Is it where you want it? Is it high enough? And if it isn't, what's causing that problem?

Carrie Webber:

I love the recommendation of starting from where you are right now, in terms of where do you find yourself to be strong? Where do you find yourself needing to work on things? I think really high-performing teams start to rise to the top, because they have this openness to not only give themselves pats on the back, but they're comfortable with being uncomfortable, meaning they're not afraid to talk about and be vulnerable about the areas that they need to grow. 

Dru Halverson:

We all tried really hard to be great hygienists and doctors, right? However, that doesn't mean that we're perfect. And yet, it's sometimes hard to accept that maybe I could improve. Maybe I could do better. Maybe I could do something else to elevate my care of the patient.

Carrie Webber:

One hard conversation that I've been having quite a bit recently is that team members who have been on a team or have been practicing dentistry for many years can develop a resistance to changing the way they do some...