ALL ABOARD THE TRAINING TRAIN

The blogs posted on Practicon’s website at practicon.com for the weeks of 8/22, 8/29, and 9/5 explored the fine art of interviewing prospective new team members.  Help yourself to a set of informative interview questions for use in your office by clicking on those archived blogs.

Once hired, the next steps to the successful development of a skilled, productive team member are (1) proper orientation to your office and (2) thorough training, in that order.  Human resource experts report that over 50% of failed hiring decisions can be attributed to the failure of the employer to provide orientation focusing on the ambiance and overall functioning of the office followed by specific detailed training for the responsibilities the new person will carry.

Orientation is a term encompassing everything from completion and filing of all application and interview forms, tax forms, OSHA-required medical and training records to a review of the job description; from a tour of the office itself, either a stand-alone office or a multi-suite facility, to reading the office manual and asking pursuant questions; from learning about the history of the practice to understanding the Mission Statement (what you are about as a team); from a description of the ambiance of the practice to a roster of current staff names and positions; from an explanation of the staff meeting schedule to assignment of a staff mentor to facilitate training, answer questions, and encourage initiative for the first two or three months of employment.  Orientation sessions also cover work safety, aspects of security, the utmost importance of confidentiality about such things as personal salary, patient data, practice financial data (production, collections, etc.).  Additionally, emergency protocols in case of a crisis with a patient or with a staff member, fire, or weather alert, and beginning and end of day procedures should be included.  Other aspects of the job to be discussed as part of orientation include promptness, dependability, appearance and personal hygiene (no perfume, long hair pinned up or back, no excessive jewelry and so on), and professionalism (no gossiping in the office, no discussion of personal issues or problems over a patient in the chair and such).

On-the-job training for a novice should take a minimum of six weeks.  Suggestion: ask an experienced clinical team member and a knowledgeable business team member to write outlines/schedules, listed by the week, of procedures and processes which must be learned.  For clinical staff, the weekly schedule will include everything from seating a patient through treatment to dismissal.  Tooth anatomy, dental terminology, instrument names and uses, charting, treatment data entry, tray set ups, 4-handed dentistry at the  chair, sterilization, unit breakdown and cleaning between patients, supply storage and unit restocking---in short, all clinical tasks are to be included.  Periodic conversations with her/his training mentor will mark any areas that need additional training.

Training for a certified dental assistant will, obviously, be briefer.  She/he will have to learn the dentist’s preferred way of doing things: treatment sequencing, instrument passing, data entry, proper communication with patients and so on.  Beginning and end of day routines, lab procedures, dental supply receipt and storage, etc. should also be included.  As with a novice assistant, an experienced senior assistant may write a training schedule for a previously-trained new team member to follow with periodic checks to make certain she/he is learning the specifics of your office procedures and routines.

Following orientation, new business team members will focus on procedures at the desk.  Telephone communications leads the list---phone greetings and conversations can result in an appointment made or an appointment lost.  Similar to clinical staff training, a training outline/schedule written by an experienced, competent business team member will keep training on track, act as a checklist of information and processes to be mastered, and give the new team member a sense of accomplishment as training progresses.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of written training outlines/schedules for both the clinical and business areas.  In addition to these specific training plans, a mentor in the area in which a new staff member works is invaluable to hasten and enrich the training period.  Extra time and effort put into developing organized orientation and training programs will pay big dividends in the form of a well trained, long-term, enthusiastic team that provides exquisite service to your patients and makes your professional life so much easier, more enjoyable, and more profitable.