The Ultimate Dental Handover is the heart of your dental business.
Poor handovers result in confused patients receiving unclear directions and messages as to what their next step must be and more importantly, why that next step needs to be performed.
And when.
And how soon.
It’s so simple really.
A patient with clarity makes an appointment and keeps the appointment.
A patient without clarity does not make an appointment, or makes an appointment and then either does not attend or cancels or reschedules.
And so exists a “Dental Spectrum” within our practice.
At one end, the right side, we have patients with total clarity.
Clear. Next. Step.
They understand exactly what they need to do next.
They know when they need to come back. They know what they will be having done and why it needs to be done.
They understand what will happen if they do not have the treatment done, and what will happen if they do not have the treatment done in the recommended time frame.
And they would like to receive a call from your office if a vacancy in your schedule arises so that they can come in sooner.
At the other end of the spectrum, on the left side, is the confused patient.
They are numb. Sometimes mentally as well as physically and facially.
They do not know what treatment they have just had done, nor why they have had that treatment done.
They kind of know they have to come back, but they are not clear as to why they really need to, because nothing is hurting.
They think that whatever it is can wait, sometimes forever.
They have no idea of the consequences of delaying or deferring their next treatment appointment.
Everything we do in our Dental Office either moves our patient away from clarity or towards it.
So we must make sure that all our words and actions and intentions with our patient are directed to move them to the right hand side of the spectrum.
Towards total clarity.
Our service must be world class to promote the environment of clarity.
People do business with people they like.
And they like people who take time with them and spend time with them.
And they do not like being ignored.
Or lectured to.
And so we ourselves need to be one hundred percent clear on what we need to do for our patients.
And that is we need to handover our patients following treatment with one hundred percent total clarity.
To achieve total clarity the patient needs to hear the following five things from the Dentist at the completion of treatment:
- Exactly what treatment the patient received today.How many fillings, how many surfaces, how deep those fillings were, and if there was any changes to the expected treatment that was scheduled to be done, such as increase in filling sizes due to the location of additional decay, etc.
- Exactly what the patient may experience or feel over the next few days following treatment.The Dentist needs to tell the patient of any possible feelings they could expect following treatment. This way, the patient is prepared for possible any and all post-operative feelings and experiences.
- Exactly what treatment the Patient will be having at their next visit to the Dental Office.Which teeth are to be treated, what is wrong with them and what that treatment will be.
- The time frame or urgency of the remaining treatment required.It is the Dentist’s duty to inform the Patient when exactly he next wants to see the patient. The Dentist’s role here is to create urgency for the treatment as opposed to creating a *Lack of Urgency* in the Patient’s mind. Creating urgency assists the Front Office team members in securing the next appointment for the Patient.
- Exactly what will happen if the next treatment is not carried out.The Dentist must inform the patient of the consequences if treatment is not carried out. The patient must understand that taking action is imperative for them.
And that delaying action will be harmful to them.
When your Ultimate Handovers begin with these five clinical points you dramatically increase your patient compliance and treatment acceptance.
Patients leave with much better understanding of what their Clear. Next. Step. needs to be.
Having an orchestrated sequence of Ultimate Handovers of the patient as they journey from the treatment room to the Front Office improves that understanding of what to do next even more so.
Failing to Handover well and often promotes confusion.
Consistent handovers strategically repeated create clarity for your patient to proceed with their next appointment.
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Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.
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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
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