The Practicon Viewpoint by Ann Page Griffin

PATIENTS—ARE THEY THE STARS IN YOUR PRACTICE?

Question: How often does your dental team focus on the front-and-center importance of your patients? Without patients, there is no practice. Your patients are your raison d’etre, something every team member must believe and buy into.

Over 20 years ago, a staff member in an office with which I was consulting gave me the following description of a patient. She wrote it following a discussion we had about the proper way to value patients. Consider making this piece a sort of mantra for your team. Prepare a copy for each team member as a constant reminder of the supreme importance of patients. Read it aloud at staff meetings throughout the year.

Remember, Doctor, your team members will follow your lead. When you are determined to treat patients like the stars of your office, your staff will do likewise.

WHAT IS A PATIENT?

• A patient is the most important individual ever in this office, either in person or otherwise.
• A patient is not dependent on us; we are dependent on him.
• A patient is not an interruption of our work; she is the purpose of it. We are not doing her a favor by serving her; she is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.
• A patient is not an outsider to our practice; he is an important part of it.
• A patient is not a cold statistic, a name on a ledger card or a computer screen. She is a human being with feelings, emotions, biases, opinions, and prejudices like our own.
• A patient is not someone to argue with—nobody ever won an argument with a patient.
• A patient is a person who brings us his needs. It is our job to meet those needs with tender loving care, and to do so profitably—to the patient and to ourselves.