https://youtu.be/YKCatslzGRQ?si=bWpe2Tjj81Ok1DKC

This transcript with our Jameson Files host Carrie Webber has been lightly edited for flow. To enjoy the audio, you can watch on YouTube or listen to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify.

Jameson Hygiene Coaches Discuss Pain Points in Your Practice

Carrie:

Welcome to the Jameson Files. I'm your host, Carrie Webber, and I am so excited today because I have more members of the Jameson team as guests with me. I have Becky Spear and April Welker. Both are Jameson advisors, both business and clinical advisors for the Jameson team. And so, thank you ladies for being with me.

Becky and April:

Thank You.

Carrie:

Absolutely. We are here together at the Jameson offices doing work on our own personal skills and development, just like we do with all of our clients, helping you to be better and better every day. We do the same thing. So we gather together, and we meet, and we work through areas that we can improve so that we're bringing our very best to our clients across the country. 

And the cool thing about Becky and April is, like I said, they're business and clinical advisors. So these ladies are both hygienists that have worked clinical and dental practices. April's actually still a working hygienist out in the world. And so they bring to the table in their work with our clients, not only the perspective of those business systems that are so important, but the clinical systems and how to truly have a high performing clinical team and hygiene team in your practices. So what I really wanted to talk about today is from your perspective in the work that you do with practices across the country and what you're seeing in the industry as a whole, what are the trends in hygiene specifically, what are the pain points that you feel like practices are struggling with, and where are those opportunities that practices need to perhaps put some attention on that could really help improve their practices from that perspective?

The New Periodontal Classification System Helps Patients Understand the Value of Care

Becky:

Right now, I think one of the big things that we are teaching in many of the practices that we go to is staging and grading, which is the new periodontal classification system. It's not a new periodontal classification system, but we are finally starting to get that into our practices, getting the documentation to be correct, because we know how important documentation is. And it also is a system that is creating some urgency, and it's more understandable, I think, for the patients, and I think that's why they came up with this. 

Carrie:

I like that. So it really plays a role in educating patients on the need for treatment and that focus on their ongoing health.

Becky:

Right. You know, we could say stage one to four in the past, you know, you’re stage one, stage two, or I shouldn't say stage, it was class, class one to class four, but now when you tell somebody stage 1, 2, 3 or four, we're used to hearing stages in the medical world. And so I think that's what they've done by bringing the staging and grading into dentistry. Now people who are already familiar with that terminology are hearing that in the dental office as well.

Carrie:

Such a great point. And any opportunity to help patients see the urgency of the need for treatment and the disease that's happening in their mouths is helpful. Do you find that when you're practicing, does it make a difference in terms of patient education? 

April:

Absolutely. I think that's a great point, Becky, too. And I think anytime a patient hears they have a stage of any type of disease, they're listening more. They want to hear what's going on. They are ready to sometimes accept it or not accept it, but they're more likely ready to hear what the treatment is going to be and move forward with getting that care that they need.

Proper Time Management Aids in Communicating the Value of Care

Carrie:

What are you finding as you're practicing, April, are those obstacles that you feel you need to have tools or skills to overcome when it comes to the patient's understanding of the value or urgency for their ongoing care?

April:

That's a great question, Carrie. And I think it's really important for us as hygienists to take time to listen to the patients and to understand what they really need and what their goals are. And sometimes I think we get in a rush and we don't have time, and we try to get through these appointments. But sometimes the patient just needs us to slow down a little bit, hear what's going on, and really make a full complete treatment plan based on what their needs truly are.

Carrie:

In a previous episode, we were talking more on business and leadership with two other members of the Jameson team, Suzanne and Brenda, and something that we talked about from the business side– and you said that we're not prioritizing that time for education and communication and listening– was time management. And something that we hear from time to time when we're trying to introduce adding something or doing something more intentionally in hygiene appointments is, “I don't have time for that.” What do you see? Do you see time management as an obstacle? And, what are things that hygienists or clinical team could pay attention to and be more intentional on to help manage their time and appointments more appropriately?

April:

So being clinical, some of the things that I've had to work on over the years and learn is just to cut my chitchat down a little bit. 

So we need to prioritize the most important things of the appointment. And I think sometimes we forget how important documentation is, and we skip over that, or we go to something else. And I think really looking at the appointment as the entire appointment and really prioritizing and finding a time for these things. And sometimes we do have to add more procedures or different things that we're doing for the patient's care, but really taking a step back and just looking at, what am I doing? How can I improve? 

And then two, don't be afraid to ask your fellow hygienists for help. Coming together and having these calibration meetings is really helpful to make sure that, well, I didn't know you were doing this, or I'm doing it this way. And really coming together as a hygiene team is so critical. And it's important.

Carrie:

I love that.

The 20-20-20 Rule for Hygiene Time Mangement

Becky:

I agree. I think those are all good points. You know, some hygienists actually have to get a piece of paper and time themself. You know, there's the 20-20-20 rule that we've talked about over the years. And so first of all, we've got to see what's putting us behind. And many times it's not the diagnostics, it's like you said, it's the chitchat. And so, obviously, it's all about building the relationship as well. So there is definitely room for chitchat, but we've got to make sure that the oral hygiene instruction and the home care instruction is not the part that's being left out because it's not literally a procedure. And that's what I see. I see that getting limited as we add things. So I think it's really about timing and really knowing where you are in that appointment so that you are managing your time, just like with any other appointment,

Carrie:

Becky, can you give a brief refresher and reminder of what you mean by 20-20-20? 

Becky:

Sure. So the 20-20-20 rule is basically the first 20 minutes is diagnostics. The middle 20 minutes is the hand scaling, air polish, rubber cut polishing. And then the evaluation comes with the last 20 minutes. Your time to turn over the room, check out the patient, and get ready for your next patient, documentation as well.

Carrie:

So that middle 20, for those of you, when we're thinking about managing time, Becky said that the doctor evaluation ideally, is falling in that middle 20, so that the hygienist, you have time to get any kind of diagnostic information, and take the photographs, or any of those pieces, already start preheating any conversations that need to be had. There's some due diligence that's done and is ready before the doctor comes in. 

And we want that in the middle because by the time you get in the final 20, what's happening, right? The patients are starting to check out and move on to their next scheduled piece of their day. 

When you think about time management, it really does become that, as you were saying, really thinking through, what is my process and what do I need to be accomplishing? And also remembering why are those pieces important?  So if we're finding ourselves saying we don't have time to do things that would be integral pieces of patient education or helping them move forward with needed treatment or dealing with disease, we're actually sacrificing something that could be the make-or-break piece of that patient's decision-making process. Do you find that with your patients today? 

April:

Absolutely. Right. The patients need time to process this information too. And as you're saying, that last 20 minutes, they're already checked out, they've been sitting in the chair, they're waiting, and they're ready to go. And so the patient education piece is so important from the beginning to the middle, right to the end. And so yes, I completely agree.

Carrie:

And I think it's a fine line, right? The chitchat. It’s such a fine line because relationship is so important with our patients, so that they have that trust and relationship and commitment to their ongoing care. And we have the very important things that we need to make sure we're accomplishing in those appointments. 

Becky:

Absolutely. I think that when I go into practices, and hygienists truly are running behind and they're using the entire hour,