This is huge because it has so many consequences.  Most "successful" offices are booked weeks in advance.  So when the proverbial "emergency pain in the you-know-what" calls, you put them off -- even refer them elsewhere.  An open hour in your schedule permits you to do something few offices can do.  That is, give the emergency patient a new patient experience.

  

Most emergency patients have been treated like the low-valued patients they really are. They seek "fix it when it hurts" care.  They break appointments.  They are often late.  So, quite naturally you put them off or have them sit in the reception room for hours for a 15-minute look-see with a script.

 

 

This protocol allows you to treat them no differently than the patient who booked a consult two weeks ago.  Have them arrive 30 minutes prior to the doctor's appointment time (time for paperwork, the one-to-one interview, appropriate radiographs).  The doctor's hour is to review the chief complaint, structure a responsible treatment plan and initiate the plan when possible.  This is presuming it is an appropriate patient (not swollen, febrile, in out-of-control pain or doesn't require mounted models, diagnositc wax-up or laboratory work).  It also presumes they've been screened financially.  (Refer to The Art of Getting Paid).

 

This quality approach to the patient, whom heretofore may have placed little value on oral health care often motivates them to end the cycle of emergency only dentistry and initiates a first step toward a return to good oral health.