Remember how easy it was to get up and go to work or take your kids to the park? You could actually go to the movies. ESPN had highlights from the baseball game that went extra innings. You could go to the grocery store without wearing a respirator. Well, that was so last year! Dr. Howard Farran recorded an episode of Dentistry Uncensored with my boss, Dr David Ahearn last year too. The topic was centered around productivity and efficiency - together equal profit. Last I checked, post COVID world or not, profitability is still relevant today.
Let’s define those two very similar yet very different words. Productivity is the result of the quantity of work produced by your dental practice in a given amount of time. Think of productivity as a measure of outputs divided by inputs. Your outputs are the patients you see on any given day and the time you put into them is considered your inputs. Efficiency refers to the resources used to produce the work. If you can get more outputs from the same inputs, without adding more resources or if you can see more patients without adding more time or staff, then you have increased efficiency. If you can treat more patients efficiently, then you are more productive which leads to increased profitability.
I’ve been grounded for the last few months due to this whole COVID thing. I miss coaching dental practices. I miss traveling. I miss working alongside clinical leaders in the practices. I miss the challenge. No two dental practices are alike. I get to reinvent myself with every Dental Reboot Training. The goal is always the same - do more with less. The increased numbers are the result.
Dentists: the speed in which you prep a tooth has nothing to do with profitability or efficiency. But if you had a handpiece closer to you and a dental assistant who can anticipate your next move before you even know what that move is, that’s efficiency. Every time you lift your head during a crown prep to rinse, dry, check, you lose time. Before you jump into making investments in a bunch of equipment to make you a faster dentist, you must understand where the bottlenecks occur in your practice.
Clinically speaking: There are three bottlenecks in every dental practice.
- Room Turnover
- Sterilization
- Check out.
I’m only going to address room turnover in this blog to get you going. The more equipment and surface area you have in your operatory the more time it would take to disinfect it. Remember our theme - “do more with less”. If you diagnosed a fracture in a tooth during a hygiene check, would you reschedule the patient? Same day conversions are about the best way to increase productivity - especially in 2020. The ability to turn an operatory from hygiene to operative in 2 minutes or less is efficiency at its best. Go Mobile! Go Cassettes! Go Modular Delivery Bins & Tubs! There is no need to schedule the patient to come back when the profits are already in the chair.
It’s already June! We are halfway through the year. Our business plans and goals for 2020 are suffering. It may take a bit more time but we will bounce back - blue skies will return! Now is the time to start thinking about a recovery. Embrace every opportunity. If that means doing two times more dentistry in one day you can do it. You just have to be smart and safe.
For answers to how you can bounce back from profits lost during covid shutdown, send me an email abachman@desergo.com or text (813) 833-4645. We were in this together, now it’s time to get out of the hole - easier.
