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Dental Practice Management is a subject of interest to all, the new budding dentist as well as the established dentist. There are a number of schools of thought which approach the concept of practice management in their individual unique fashion. Here is an approach by the Ron Hubbard school of thought presented by Dr. Deepak Vaswani. Bridge the Communication GapThe first visit of the patient to a dental clinic has been given various terms - checkup, consultation, etc. It has been said that the first impression is the best impression. Yet most of us dentists take this visit very lightly. Most patients just walk in for their first visit. What is generally done is to ask the patient to fill in a form, bring the patient in for an exam, and try to relieve pain if present, advise the patient of a general plan of treatment, prescribe, and reappoint the patient for treatment. We tend to assume that the patient has understood our plan of treatment. The above scenario is appropriate if the patient is in pain, or has some other kind of emergency that need to be attended to first. However, for a routine consultation, adequate time should be scheduled. Communicating with the patient begins even before the patient enters the dental clinic - from the time the patients hears about this great doctor - and continues until the treatment is actually delivered and the patient is scheduled for a recall. Right from the beginning the new patient must be given multiple affirmations that he/she has made the right choice. It may even be appropriate to explain a little about sterilization procedures and universal precautions, just to set their mind at ease. This explanation need not be verbal - the same effect can be achieved by having well-designed posters in the waiting or other area. It is generally necessary to find out the real reason for the patient's visit, the emotional one. To be able to get anywhere near the truth, the dentist has to take control of the interview. This will prevent the patient from going off at a tangent and rambling about unrelated subjects. And the only way to control the interview is to ask questions and listen carefully about : ·
Past dental experiences From the above questioning it should be possible to discover negative factors to possible treatment plan as well as the motivating factors. It is generally a good idea to summarize the findings to the patient. By doing that the patient is made to understand that the dentist has heard them and is interested in finding a solution to their problem. It also gives an opportunity to clear any misunderstanding that may have arisen, or any item that was not completely understood. The next item on the agenda is the clinical exam. One way of doing this is for the dentist to call out all the findings to an assistant, and to have a continuous dialogue with the assistant about the findings, allowing the patient to eavesdrop on this conversation. This is likely to generate a lot of interest with the patient, as a psychological trick is being played - people generally listen very carefully to overheard conversations! Then begins the actual case presentation to the patient. Here the dentist outlines the findings and the plan of treatment. Most dentists think nothing of using words like non-invasive, prophylaxis, surgery, root canal, etc. Taking a simple example, the meaning of the word non-invasive is not necessarily going to be the same for the dentist and the patient. And this can lead to a communication gap. The first barrier to overcome, while explaining something to a patient, is the misconception of knowing it all. Some patients already have a treatment plan ready when they approach a dentist, and only want that plan executed. It is somehow necessary to break this barrier and make the patient realize that he/she will not be able to understand anything if they think they know it all to begin with. Being a successful speaker (for case presentation purposes) requires more than just a willingness to listen. There are three barriers which can block the patient's ability to understand (and the dentist's ability to explain) the treatment plan being presented. These barriers produce different sets of physical and mental reactions. If the dentist understands what these barriers are and how to handle them, his/her ability to communicate with the patient will be greatly increased. 1st barrier: Absence of Identification If you try to explain the motion of the earth around the sun and that of the moon around the earth, the best way is to use some kind of physical model, like a light source and a ball. This gives substance to the explanation and the student begins to identify the light source as the sun, the ball as representing the earth, etc. Photographs or moving pictures can be helpful. An object that will reasonably substitute the item being discussed will also do. Useful tools to remedy the lack of identification with oral structures are available for dental use. These could be models, intraoral photographs, etc. The word demonstrate from Latin means to point out, show, prove. In order to supply identification, one has to demonstrate the object or the replica of the object being discussed. Another means of demonstrating something is by sketching. Simplicity is the keynote. A classical example is trying to explain rootcanal treatment to a patient by drawing a cross-section of a tooth - generally nothing registers! 2nd barrier: Too steep a Gradient We are required to repeat the same explanation a number of times, sometimes during the same session. This may lead to a monotonous approach and a tendency to go fast. When the patient is confronted with this steep gradient, a sort of confusion results, and the usual result is a mental switch-off. Anything said after that is generally not registered. The remedy is to simply cut back the gradient - go over the explanation slowly. Find out to what point the patient was with you, and continue on from there on. 3rd barrier: Misunderstood Word When we use technical words, assuming the patient is still with us (listening), the patient is likely to exhibit a blank or washed-out look. This is a clear sign that a word has not been understood. And the remedy is simple - just go over the previous sentence, using simpler words If we are able to master the above techniques of communication, our case acceptance rate can only go one way - NORTH. Reference: The Technology of Study by L.Ron Hubbard
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