New Beginnings as an assistant. (Guest Editorial).

Your ADAA President, Karen Waide, CDA, EFDA, has as her theme for this year's ADAA meeting in Nashville, New Beginnings. What an appropriate title for the changing role of the assistant in today's dental world. Whether you are a chairside assistant or business assistant, more often referred to as the scheduling coordinator or the financial coordinator, the new beginnings for dental assistants are exciting. We survived OSHA and now there's HIPAA. Dental assistants are no longer just bib changers and receptionists. They are knowledgeable well-trained professionals who learn something new and tackle it every day in their practices. Defining the job descriptions for these assistants has been interesting for most consulting firms because the duties are becoming blended with the integration of more technology chairside, more rules and regulations to follow and the cross-training most practices use for improving staff skills.

One of the biggest obstacles to practice growth is keeping up with the busy patient flow and having the time to devote to these all important in-office training sessions that should be on-going for maximum practice efficiency. Practices that mark off the two least productive hours of their week, not including lunch, are those that are growing and thriving. It takes less time to do something right than to do it over. Feeling competent and confident is the key to enjoyment in one's chosen career field. Since communication is the foundation of the clinical and business sides of the success triangle, continuous role-play sessions with the entire team are a must. Getting a dentist to commit to these two hours of non-patient time is the key. When dentists say, "well, that would be a day of lost production per month", I remind them that it is more like adding five days of production when the office gets organized and stays that way.

Week One should be designated for the health of the practice staff meetings. A time for each member of the team (including the dentists) to give his or her three-minute personal progress report to the entire office: what they have personally done to make the practice better in the past month. Each person in the practice should design the three statistics that are most pertinent to monitoring their own success. The financial coordinator may report on the number of statements that were sent last month, the A/R aging statistics of how much is owed at the current status, the 30-60 days, and 60-90 days or more. And the number of collection calls made last month. The clinical assistants may report on the percentage of overhead spent on dental supplies last month, knowing the target is 5-7% of collections. Another clinical report may be the number of units of crowns, implants, veneers, or cosmetic whitening cases. The third clinical assisting report could be an OSHA and HIPAA update by the clinical coordinator.

The two hours per week of non-patient time in Week Two and Week Four should be designated as "organizational time". Everyone has a list of all the duties they must perform that can't be done during patient hours such as tearing down the treatment rooms from ceiling to floor to clean and restock twice per month. This is also a time to organize the sterilization areas, inventory closets and the lab. Meet with sales reps during organizational time, not while patients are being seen. The dentists need this time twice per month to clear off their desks, make non-urgent phone calls, and work ON their business, not IN it! This would also keep the dentist from staying late, coming in on weekends to catch up or carrying work home every single evening.

Business staff need this time to make past due account calls, re-file insurance claims that may need individual consideration letters, correspond with specialists, file and conduct marketing projects.

The hygienists need this time to work on patient reactivation, organize the recare system, and sharpen instruments and other projects that require their expertise.

Week Three is probably the most overlooked yet the most important of all of the non-patient time. It is time for four half-hour table clinics given by the dentist(s), the hygienists, the clinical assistants and the business staff. These monthly in-house training sessions assure that everyone is on the same page with the services done in the practice, and more importantly, exactly how these services are done and each person's role in the success of them. It is also a team-building exercise to be able to "teach what you know" to everyone else in the office. It truly instills the leadership mentality in every member of the team from the senior dentist to the last hired, perhaps once timid, auxiliary.

These new beginnings are incredibly exciting to me. I started my career as a dental assistant in 1961, long before most of you were born] In my latest book, Dynamic Dentistry, my career unfolds and outlines the true value of the dental assistant. It is so refreshing for me to meet many of you in my travels and know we have journeyed down the same path. I look forward to being with ALL of you in Nashville where I address the ADAA House of Delegates Meeting on July 17th. Belonging to my local, state and national (ADAA) dental assisting organizations changed my life in the 70's. I'm proud to be an Honorary Member of the Virginia Dental Assistants Association, (VDAA). The ladies who choose assisting as a career have made a huge difference in the lives of the patients they serve, the dentists they work with and the friends they make with their co-workers. And just think, after 42 years, I realize, "we've only just begun".

For a complimentary copy of the samples of 30-minute table-clinic topics my client practices use, go to my website at

www.DentalManagementU.com

Linda Miles is a Certified Speaking Professional, a Certified Management Consultant, a member of the Academy of Dental Management consultants and the American Academy of Dental Practice Administration. She is CEO of Linda L. Miles and Associates a national dental practice management consulting organization headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, specializing in communications, motivation and organization. (Website: www.DentalManagementU.com)