How to Make an Office Schedule for Assisted Hygiene

Making an office schedule for assisted hygiene helps everything run more smoothly.

Assisted hygiene can help a dental office to become more productive by fitting in more patients per day. Assisted hygiene consists of assisting the dentist in simpler procedures, such as obtaining dental histories and checking patients into their rooms. In order for the dental office with assisted hygiene to be run efficiently, an office schedule should be implemented.

Instructions

1. Schedule appointments with using 10-minute units. According to Dental Heroes, scheduling in 10-minute units creates a higher degree of accuracy in the dental practice. For example, when you utilize 10-minute units of time, the practice can schedule a 20-minute procedure with ease. With 15-minute units, the procedure must be scheduled either with not enough time (15 minutes) or too much (30 minutes). Ten-minute units offers greater flexibility and result in increased productivity for the dental office.

2. Schedule intensive procedures in the morning. Try having longer, more intensive treatment options in the morning to harness the staff member's morning gusto. In addition, more routine treatments should be scheduled after the lunch break.

3. Schedule the assistants' appointments separately from the doctors' appointments. Since the doctor and the assistant do not have to be in the same room and can work on patients separately, it is ideal to schedule them separately to increase office productivity.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to schedule a realistic number of appointments to avoid overbooking the dental hygienists or assistants throughout the day.

• Dental Heroes suggests prioritizing the office schedule. By doing this, you also can avoid losing revenue by not overbooking patients. Overbooking often leads to loss of patients over time, as well as creating a stressed-out staff. No-shows or cancellations can often be avoided by a confirmation call the day prior to a scheduled appointment.

References

• Dental Heroes: Dental Practices