Why a Unified Practice Vision is Essential to Complete Dentistry

Having a unified practice vision is essential for implementing complete dentistry. As doctors, we need to have a clear picture or vision of the type of practice we want to have. What type of dentistry do we want to offer? What level of service do we want to deliver to our patients? What does the office look and feel like? What is the reputation we want to have? And what is the personality or culture of our practice?

Clarify your practice vision

The important step is to share this vision with our team members, articulating it in a way that they can actually see what we see. This is a great staff meeting exercise.

Your vision will evolve over time and I recommend that you review your vision with your team members at least once a year to re-clarify the direction you want to go. The reason this is so important is because the vision of the practice helps us understand the why behind everything that we do.

Here’s an example. My vision is for every new patient who enters the practice be wowed by the new-patient experience all the way from the initial phone call to the end at checkout after the new-patient exam is completed. And it’s really important for my team to understand what that means and what that looks like. Systems and checklists are developed for every step of the process so nothing falls through the cracks.

Using a yellow notepad for new patients

One system to support this vision is having my treatment coordinator use a yellow, new-patient phone sheet that serves as a guide during the call so that she can collect all the important information. It also serves as reminders to go over broken-appointment policies, parking directions, and even how we work with insurance. The fact that the sheet is yellow is a reminder to other team members that she is on the phone with a new patient and should not be interrupted. Kirk Behrendt also tells us that yellow is a reminder that we should pump sunshine through that phone and always smile.

Having a unified practice vision helps making the implementation of complete dentistry so much easier because we have the support and understanding of our team. We have a common goal and a common purpose, ultimately providing the best patient care possible.

Learn more about getting your team on the same page at Implementing Complete Care Dentistry.

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