Have you ever played a game of telephone? Sat in a circle of friends, whispering a message ear to ear, and the last person to receive the message had to repeat what they heard? How often was the message misconstrued by the time it reached its destination? Imagine playing this game in your dental office every day. The only difference is now you’re passing along patient information, patient requests, and any other necessary instructions to get your point across. You’re also no longer whispering, but shouting from one room to another or you’re using walkie-talkies to communicate with your team. Take a step back, and think about how this form of communication affects your patients.
The Current Problem You May Face With Your Dental Team
How often does a patient relay something to the front office coordinator that doesn’t get passed on to the clinical team, causing the patient to repeat themselves to the dental assistant or doctor? What about when a hygienist spends an hour with a patient, collecting critical information about them, but that information isn’t communicated with the doctor before they enter the operatory? Or when your team members walk around looking for one another, hovering over the front desk to ask a question, and interrupting the doctor at the most inopportune time? Yes, walkie-talkies, sticky notes, paper routing slips, and simply chasing down other team members to inform them about a patient’s primary concerns or last-minute changes to the schedule can get the job done, but at what cost? A breakdown in communication can lead to mistakes, wasted time, and stress for everyone on the team. It can also negatively impact the patient’s experience with the practice.
There are many advantages to streamlining this process with an intra-office communication software, like YAPI. It enables discrete communication about issues that arise in real time, such as changes to the schedule, reminders to update patient information or check a patient’s insurance history. It can also help alert the clinical team when patients have been waiting too long or are ready to be seated and notify the doctor when a patient is ready for a hygiene check or anesthesia. Everyone will be on the same page throughout the day without any unnecessary interruptions. Most importantly, it gives the dentist and the team a chance to spend quality time with patients, which creates a better, more coordinated experience for the patient.
Imagine A Better Workflow in Your Dental Practice
Think of a different workflow, an environment where everyone has the same information and is working together to create the best experience for every patient. The doctor can plan hygiene checks when it’s convenient, the hygienist can finish setting up for their next patient without worrying if the patient is ready, and the patient care coordinator can schedule the patient’s next appointment without having to run back to ask for clarification. Now, the patient can get that new cavity filled without having to come on another day because everyone on the team can communicate quickly and efficiently.
YAPI Can Help Your Practice!
Clear communication between the members of your team is vital and YAPI’s Intra-Office Communication feature is an extremely valuable tool to implement in your practice. YAPI can help you improve teamwork, streamline appointments, and facilitate a smooth patient flow in your dental practice. It will also help create a more personalized experience to delight your patients. You’ll be in constant contact with your team and won’t have to put in much effort to do so because you can make announcements and directly message one another from YAPI’s Dashboard or other devices anywhere in your office.
According to Dentistry IQ, there are four main benefits of YAPI’s Intra-Office Communication System: enhancing patient experiences, increasing team productivity, boosting case acceptance rates, and improving clinical calibration. With YAPI, you will not only be showing patients that you and your team care, but you’ll also be able to quickly and productively complete your daily tasks, minimize mistakes, reduce stress and go home on time. Most importantly, you will encourage your team to work together to take great care of your patients and grow your practice.
As with anything new, there might be some objections to using a software to communicate within your dental practice. However, with YAPI’s Intra-Office Communication feature, you’ll be able to debunk those doubts in no time and continue to build a better environment for your team and ultimately your patients.
