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Dear Friends,
We received some great suggestions in response to our request for newsletter topics, It was a hard choice but Dr. Tom Roberts came up with the winning topic for this month:
"Finding meaning and fulfillment in dentistry after thirty years of private practice".
Perhaps you, like many of your colleagues, have had moments when you questioned your choice of professions. Maybe the patients became too trying and unreasonably demanding or the staff management issues were beyond your ability to cope. The overhead kept rising and production failed to keep pace. Or the array of issues which demanded your attention just became overwhelming. In our feature article below, we put forth ideas about how you can transform your practice from trying and burdensome to fulfilling and productive.
Our second article follows on our series addressing the economy and the factors that influence your patients' decisions about care. Without the ability to positively influence your patients, they will likely not accept your recommendations. Read "Gaining Influence" to learn more.
As always, we would love to hear your topic suggestion for an upcoming newsletter. If your idea is selected, you will receive a copy of Sandy Roth's Wit and Wisdom Reference Library, valued at $299.
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Finding Meaning and Fulfillment in Dentistry
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Why were you attracted to dentistry? Was it because you wanted to work with your hands? Was it a desire to help people? Did you see dentistry as an artistic outlet? Were you following in a family member's footsteps? Did you want to make gazillions of dollars, work less than 40 hours a week, own your own business and retire early?
All kidding aside, regardless of how long you have been in practice, you have likely discovered your expectations to be a bit off the mark. While dentistry can be highly rewarding, there are elements you may have not realized were part of the deal. For instance, most dentists would prefer the business would run itself. Even more would rather not have to deal with hiring and managing staff. Dealing with the details of systems and every day operations doesn't bring a thrill to most dentists' hearts. Add to that marketing, accounting, legal issues and inventory and you can see why the realities of owning a practice can be crazy-making.
You wouldn't need leadership and business skills if you were the only employee and patients could simply drop off their teeth at the beginning of the day. But you do have employees as well as patients and they all come with all sorts of expectations, attitudes, skills (or lack thereof), assumptions, foibles - you name it. Like it or not, ignoring your leadership obligations is not an option. You are fully responsible for assembling the best team, establishing sound systems, identifying the standard of care and ensuring that those standards are met. You are essentially responsible for attracting a viable patient base and ensuring that their needs are met consistently. This requires an understanding of human behavior that does not come naturally to most dentists or their staff members and which is definitely not part of the curriculum in dental school. Leadership is one of the most important aspects of dentistry yet it is often overlooked or ignored. As a result, the lack of strong leadership skills can be a huge source of frustration and discontent - and therefore problems that make dentistry a burden.
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Gaining Influence
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"Oh, for the good old days when patients just did what their dentist told them to do." I hear this lament all too frequently. And while this Faustian wish begs for a response, I'll defer that to a later issue and focus today on what contributes to a person's openness to your influence.
I do understand the frustration dentists feel. You believe yourself to be an expert in all things clinical and to a greater or lesser degree, you are correct. You have invested many years, many dollars (or pounds or euros) and a great deal of effort in your education and in gaining the experience to become a sound clinician. Good grief. That ought to amount to something more than a few plaques on your wall. You rightly believe you have earned the right to a clinical opinion and you want that opinion to make a difference to the people who come to you for care. You want that opinion to be influential and make a difference to your patients.
So many dentists are frustrated, however, when their clinical opinions appear to carry little weight, and that is what I want to address today. You might have experienced any number of patients engaging in the following types of behaviors:
Read on
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As a follow up to our previous articles on the economy, let us know what you are experiencing and how you are adapting to any changes. We'll provide an overview in our next newsletter.
We also encourage you to send this newsletter on to a colleague. Click the "forward email" link below.
Thank you for reading.
Sandy Roth and MaryBeth Head
ProSynergy Dental Communications |
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