Plugging Into Computers -
Helping you decentralize your practice
By Dr. Barry Freydberg D.D.S.-JADA
Improving management capabilities in the dental office takes a lot of planning, education, and study. When we consider managing the dental practice, we usually assume we are going to do some internal or external marketing, reduce our overhead, improve our communication and people skills, examine our practice monitors, and integrate into our practice whatever concept the most recent management gurus have suggested that fits our personality.
However, when you place a computer terminal in an operatory and decentralize part of the practice, you automatically reach a higher level of management efficiency. The work load becomes redistributed throughout the practice. The staff members handling the greeting/dismissing area experience a visibly decreased stress level. And although the staff costs may remain constant, office productivity and efficiency increase.
If you haven't already heard the word "decentralization" tossed about in discussions of computer use in dental practices, it won't be long. Decentralization is fast becoming the standard by which the level of computerization is measured. It's any action taken that eliminates the need for the front desk to be the hub of all activity in the practice—be it electronic scheduling, in—operatory terminals, or the ability to answer phones in areas of the office without traffic.
Just as many practitioners were reluctant to computerize initially, many are still hesitant when it comes to decentralizing computer use. However, it's important to keep in mind that a practice that automates and is unhappy with its system, for whatever reason, doesn't retreat into the cave of a manual system. Instead, it looks for another computer system. Once practices make the leap to decentralization and they've realized its profound benefits, they never—at least in my experience—return to frontdesk-based systems.
A MYRIAD OF MANAGEMENT BENEFITS
Decentralized computing offers dental practices the ability to do several things that streamline practice management:
- Schedule appointments anywhere. With the appointment scheduler accessible from any terminal in the office, staff members aren't scrambling for that one coveted book because they can schedule from any location within the practice. In fact, they can even schedule off-site. This opens a whole new world to retaining competent staff members whose presence in the practice is altered for such reasons as family leave.
- Eliminate dual data entry. In-operatory terminals also eliminate the dual entry of data. Traditionally, a front desk person copies what the clinical assistant just documented manually. The result: a backlog at the front desk. When patient and practice information is available at terminals throughout the office, various team members can access information simultaneously for various purposes.
- Integrate data. With computers in operatories, the vast possibilities of technology unfold. For example, electronic progress notes, charts, images, and digital radiographs can be integrated with the decentralized management system. The advantages are staggering.
THE HIGH-TECH ADVANTAGE
Can you imagine a patient who has already experienced in-operatory scheduling, marketing, digital X-rays, charts, voice-activated periodontal charting, and intraoral images leaving your practice for an old-fashioned office? Assuredly, a patient will assume that your high-tech practice is also using the latest clinical techniques. This can help you position yourself in the ever-increasing battle being waged to lure your patients elsewhere.
Picture yourself answering a patient phone call in a quiet environment, seeing the patient's face on a screen and being able to access all of his or her management and clinical information at the stroke of a key or the click of a mouse. The trend toward computers decentralizing the functions of the front desk, and therefore enhancing practice management, continues. With good software, hardware, training support and organizational skills, dental offices can automate many tasks and reach a higher level of management efficiency. The downside of decentralization? Assuming all of the components are in place, there is no downside.