Episode 710: More Purpose For Your Morning Huddles

 In need of all-encompassing morning huddles? In this episode, Tiff and Britt provide tips on what the back office should be touching on each day, including outstanding treatment, patient-specific information, re-care opportunities, and more.

Need a template to get started? Reach out to [email protected]. 

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Reach out to Tiff and Britt: [email protected] 

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Transcript:

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0:00:05.8 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants, where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

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0:00:51.4 KD: Hello Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and you guys, you are in for the best treat of your life. Consultant takeover. That's right. Get ready. They're dropping some dynamite. Our consulting team is incredible guys, and we are so blessed and so fortunate to have them sharing tips and tricks with you today. And as always, thanks for listening, I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

0:01:13.3 Tiff: Back at it again, Britt and Tiff. I love it. How are you today, Britt?

0:01:16.9 Britt: I'm doing awesome. Excited to be here podcasting. It's always good time and I get to spend time with you, Tiff.

0:01:23.5 Tiff: Oh, thank you. You let me go on wild tangents and let me just be me and I appreciate that about you.

0:01:30.2 Britt: Hey, I love the assistant energy. I bring the hygiene energy. It's great.

0:01:34.9 Tiff: Seriously, I think we would've had the most fun in practice together.

0:01:37.4 Britt: Oh, I think we would have a good time.

0:01:39.3 Tiff: I think Kiera should have been our TC, right? I'm the dental assistant, you're the hygienist. I don't know who our doctor is yet. Whoever wants that, you guys sign up...

0:01:47.8 Britt: You could imagine that office? Oh, it'd be good.

0:01:49.1 Tiff: Oh my gosh. We would've been the most efficient, fun, productive office ever. So, you're welcome.

0:01:53.1 Britt: A 100%.

0:01:55.4 Tiff: Okay. I have a fun one today for us, because I secretly love morning huddles, I always have, but when I was in practice, I know I always loved them but my hygienist hated them. And they were like, "Why am I here listening to every... " I was a dental assistant, right? So I'm like, "Yeah, let's talk about the day." And they're like, "Why am I here listening to everything that's happening on the dentist side?" That doesn't make any difference to my life. So, I always kind of saw that, and they were just a little bit like, "Here we are again. Going through route slips." But I think that we've figured out a good way to really get these morning huddles kind of all-encompassing for the team and not really boring. And so I thought it would be fun to really talk about that, and really I think that the morning huddle preps that we have are something that would've been fantastic in my practice and would've made our morning huddles go a lot quicker. So, I thought we might talk on that. And I really wanted you to speak from the hygiene aspect because my hygienists don't always love them when I bring them. So I thought it would be fun for that and kind of pick your brain a little bit on what you think a hygiene, or a morning huddle prep should look like, and what's important for the hygienist to really know and listen to.

0:03:05.9 Britt: Yeah, absolutely. Let me just guess. Have you gotten the answer of like, well, this is stuff I do anyway.

0:03:11.7 Tiff: Yes.

0:03:11.7 Britt: I'm already prepping for my day, I feel like that's a common answer we get when it comes to hygienists. Right?

0:03:17.0 Tiff: All the time. All the time. I already do chart prep. I'm like, "Okay, cool." I'm really glad you do that. Yeah. I hope you do.

0:03:23.8 Britt: We're just gonna make sure all of us are doing some prep in the same way to make sure then when we all come together for a huddle, it can be really efficient, productive time and we don't have to waste time going digging for things. Also so we can be as prepared as possible, so our day is nice and smooth. Working in dental, this is one of the things, morning huddle, I'm like, "How do other people function?" Or like, "How do you have a plan for your day if you don't do a morning huddle?"

0:03:51.6 Tiff: I agree.

0:03:51.7 Britt: I'm like dentistry [0:03:51.8] ____ because it's so useful.

0:03:55.5 Tiff: It is. I think the same thing. And like other industries, I'm like, "How do you guys get on the same page?" Because our morning huddles really, they get us on the same page. They show us how we can win the day and they help us figure out what we need to do. I love it. So what do you put on your morning huddle preps and I think now that you're like out of hygiene too, looking at it from a different perspective, what do you find to be the most valuable on the morning huddle preps having both of those sides of your brain?

0:04:23.9 Britt: Yeah, I think it's huge, like prep is a... Being prepared for huddle for everyone from front desk to assistance to doctors to hygiene, right? Is huge in making sure that the day can run efficiently. Making sure a huddle is super useful as well, and just making sure we don't have surprises come up throughout our day. Like some things might happen, but we minimize as much as possible.

0:04:45.0 Britt: So for hygiene, some of the big things that hygiene needs to be looking at, and it's making sure it's consistent that all hygienists, if we have multiple hygienists in the office, that we're all looking at the same thing, and that every single patient we're checking the same stuff. So as a hygienist, I'm definitely responsible for making sure I review, like, what did we do last visit? What did we do on this patient last? So I know like, all right, what did we do? What do they do for today? Do they need x-rays? Do they need perio charting? What's going on? What's this appointment today? Making sure that what's actually scheduled in the appointment is what actually needs to be done today.

0:05:17.6 Tiff: That's a big one.

0:05:17.9 Britt: Making sure all the codes are correct in there. Responsible for reviewing medical history, right? Is there anything that I need to alert the team, alert the doctor too, to make sure we get that patient taken care of. Those are some of the big things. And then outstanding treatment. Is there anything outstanding that, for me, hygiene, that I need to make sure I review with that patient. Make sure I get any updated photos or any updated X-rays that we might need for things that are outstanding, so that we're ready to go. And then just anything specific to that patient that I might need to make the doctor aware of, so that patient can have the best experience possible today.

0:05:49.9 Tiff: Yeah. I love that.

0:05:50.2 Britt: Those are some of the big things that I'm looking at when it comes to hygiene.

0:05:54.7 Tiff: I love that. And I think I duplicate that too on the dental assisting side, because I think that it's kind of all the same, they're not always looking for X-rays and things like that, but I think if we have one form that's for hygiene and dental assisting, to put those together would totally be, what are they coming in for? You guys just prepping that. You don't need to write it on the sheet necessarily, but making sure that you're chart prepping and looking what are my patients coming in for so you're prepared. Dental assistants, so you gotta make sure all your instruments are ready and your day is ready to go. Yeah. And but then...

0:06:23.4 Britt: I will [0:06:23.5] ____ dental assistants with X-rays. So make sure you've got that pre-op X-ray. So dental assistant...

0:06:30.5 Tiff: Oh, good job. Yeah.

0:06:31.7 Britt: Even though they might not be coming in, and doing like your Bitewing X-rays or your FMX that needs to be done, make sure you have all the X-rays that are necessary for whatever you're doing that day.

0:06:42.7 Tiff: That was Britt's office manager and billing rep.

0:06:47.4 Britt: I'll have you...

0:06:47.4 Tiff: I loved it. Yes, you're right.

0:06:49.6 Britt: Dental assistants, make sure we've got that X-ray.

0:06:51.4 Tiff: And side tangent, you know what I love in offices, is when, 'cause I know, 'cause my doctor tried this too and we tried, is when the dental assistants are like, well, why is it not being done when it's diagnosed? It's like, so you went... Now not being the dental assistant, that's like, yeah, that makes perfect sense 'cause then I don't have to do it.

0:07:11.5 Britt: That's hygiene problem why isn't hygiene doing that?

0:07:13.7 Tiff: So now being out of it, I am like, "Okay, so you want them to take the X-rays, do the perio charting, do the pre-op stuff, get the exam, and then pull it back out and do more X-rays because they diagnosed a crown or a bridge or something." I'm like, now, I see, like, that's complete chaos. That is so unnecessary. So, yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. Make sure you've got them.

0:07:32.6 Britt: And make sure you've got time for it, whatever you decide in your system, go for it, but even if hygiene is supposed to take it, assistance, you double check and make sure it's there.

0:07:42.6 Tiff: Right. Because if it's not there, at the end of the day, dental assistants, it's your responsibility, so I do love that, good job, good job. So consistent. Make sure the form is the same, whether it's different for hygiene, different for dental assistance, but make sure everyone in that department is using the same form. So what do they do for what do they need? Do they need the pre-op X-ray? Do they need X-rays? Are they perio charting? So you guys are chart prepping for that. And then also one of the biggest things that you mentioned was the outstanding treatment. So the outstanding treatment is really huge on both sides because we want to remember to address the outstanding treatment regardless. Another piece to that of hygiene's noticing the outstanding treatment and noting it in morning huddle. If we've got holes on the doctor side or time to do same day treatment, we can have that conversation in morning huddle. Now hygiene is prepped to prep the patient to just stay to get it done. And most of the time you guys, patients don't get treatment done because either they don't believe that they need it, they've missed the mark somewhere, or they didn't have time and they forgot about it. So if you can today be like, "Hey, let's just bust those fillings out while you're here." I can tell you right here, right now, I would be like, yeah, you're right, let's just do it 'cause I'm not coming back for it. So outstanding treatment.

0:08:48.1 Tiff: Is that something that we can get done today? And then patient specific things. So is there a birthday, an anniversary? Is there a recent death in the family? What do we need to be careful of? What do we need to acknowledge? Is there a latex allergy? Is there an anesthetic allergy? Things like that, and then in...

0:09:05.3 Britt: And sometimes they want to go by to make sure that they're spelled by the right name, anything like that.

0:09:11.7 Tiff: Name preference is huge. Huge. I had a patient that refused to come to the back office if we didn't call him doctor. He was a therapist, so he needed to be called doctor. And then I had another patient that wanted, it was his nickname, and I still giggle at it, but it was King, so we had to call him King, anyways. Yes, there's always those patient specifics, so names are huge. And then on both sides, too. For dental assistance, you're looking to make sure your patients have recently had their cleaning, so are they due for their recare? It happens a lot, you guys, a lot. Because most of the time, what happens is limited, patients will come in as a new patient, as an emergency, on the doctor's schedule. We get them in, we get them started for treatment, then we're... End with treatment and we're like, "Where did they go?" Well, we forgot to get them in for their comp and everything, so watch out for those pieces. Or sometimes patients, it's like eight months down the road, they're like, "Hey, I'm ready to do that crown." So we schedule them for the crown and now then they're two months overdue for a cleaning, so make sure that they've had their recent cleanings and then both sides, hygiene and doctor, or look to see if the patients have any family members that are overdue, especially if it's a mom with kids or whatever, so that we can try to grab those as well, and get that recare schedule filled. So your prep form...

0:10:27.7 Britt: The opportunity for, when we're prepping charts, like, yes, it's for today, making sure everything's good to go for today. And is there like, what other opportunities of things does that patient need or does their family need that we can just make their lives easy and get things taken care of while they're here today?

0:10:42.0 Tiff: 100%, 'cause that's the patient experience, right? We wanna make it a good patient experience. And if you're in for crown prep on the doctor schedule, I used to do this all the time, I'd be like, "Hey, your crown is milling, like it's gonna be 45 minutes or so before your crown is done. Why don't we just pop you over with Britt real quick? She's got some time. She's got about 30 minutes. We can slide you in and get your cleaning done, and then I can do all your X-rays and everything and exam when she's done." So then it just fills that spot in hygiene. So we kind of would manipulate things around and call other patients if we needed to. But if I knew my patient because we talked about it in huddle, needed something, I could look at the gaps on the schedule and see, well, where can we maximize their time and get the most done for them being here right now? I will tell you right now, I would be super frustrated if I had all of this work done and I sat there for 3 hours and then you tell me I've got to come back for another hour. I'd be like, "Okay, well, give me some time. I need some time off. I just gave you three hours." And I just did my hair today and I gave her three hours. I'm not gonna go back in two weeks for another hour with her. I'd be like, "No girlfriend, like 10 weeks."

0:11:47.3 Tiff: "I see you every 10 weeks for three hours. That's all you get from me." That's exactly how I would be. I'm the epitome of like I'm super sweet, but I am the epitome of the trouble patient. I am the one that's like, "If you don't do it today, I'm going to forget that we needed to do it. I'm going to tell you to put me on the ASAP list, and when you call me to move my appointment up. I'm never gonna be able to." It's just, that's who I am. I'm gonna question like, "Wait, I thought I was on the membership plan. Why is it this much?" I know these things, I'm... This is my job, and I still do it to my office. I'm like, "I love you guys. I'm so sorry." Anyways, create the prep form so that's your action item, you guys, figure that out. Figure out what's important. How are you going to implement them into your morning huddle? But first create those prep forms. We do have some examples. We've got some templates, you can reach out, 'cause you guys, we implement these in offices all the time, constantly. This is what we do. We work with practices to help make your lives easier, more efficient, reduce the chaos, reduce the stress, and make you more profitable, while giving an excel patient experience. Everything we do wraps around that patient experience. So anything that we implement is meant to increase the patient experience, increasing your profitability.

0:12:56.5 Tiff: Because we truly believe that if you're doing right by your patients, the universe responds, and you get to make money. That's what we're here for. You get to create a life. You get to create a life for all of your team. You get to create a life for your family. You get to create a legacy for your family. That's what we're here to help you do. So let us help you. So create this form or reach out to us if you want the template. Make sure you've got all of those pieces. We said, make sure they're consistent. Make sure you're looking at what they're due for, X-rays, perio charting, et cetera. Notate any outstanding treatment that the patient might have. Discuss it in the morning huddle. Be patient specific if there are things like names, specific name, if there's birthdays, et cetera. And then check for re-cares for that patient and for their family. Make sure that they're scheduled to come back. And if they're not, that you're grasping those patients front office-wise, it's a numbers game. Where are we at? We can talk about that prep form on another time, a little bit more in depth, but I think the back office one is the one that we really miss, most people review the numbers, the schedule, the openings, the, all of those pieces are typically hit on, and I think it's that back office prep that usually is missed. So go get your form either from us, create it yourself, implement it, Monday, whatever day comes next, I don't know what it is for you.

0:14:09.1 Tiff: And figure out how you're gonna make that consistent for your team because it's going to be a game changer.

0:14:14.7 Britt: Yeah, and this is something that a lot of offices right, that we work with and we go into, they think they're doing it and team members think they're doing it, and then we'll sit down and we'll be like, "Great, show me what you're doing, let's make it the same across the board." And it's a game changer. So that we're thinking about not just me, myself, Britt, which hygiene is really good at. Like, I got my column, I'm good. I'm good. But like, thinking of it as a whole team and making sure I'm preparing not just for my column, but helping to prepare for the whole team.

0:14:42.5 Tiff: Yeah, totally agree. I love that. I love that. Thank you, Britt. I think this was awesome. Super tangible information. You guys can walk away from this one and really implement something cool that I think will help your patient case acceptance and your patient experience and overall decrease the stress in your practice. So go do it. Britt, those were awesome ideas. Thanks for going back and forth with me on that today, I think we create really well together, and I appreciate your time.

0:15:07.1 Britt: We're a good assistant hygiene duo, Tiff, thanks for having me.

0:15:09.5 Tiff: We really are. You're welcome. You're welcome. All right, guys, go do the thing. Go implement it. Have so much fun. Reach out to us if you need help or you have questions or you want that template at [email protected]. And as always, we love to hear your thoughts on our podcast. We love to hear from you guys. We also love your tips and tricks. So drop us a five-star review, let us know how you liked this, and then you can drop any tips or tricks you've got for other people too, 'cause they really do read them. And we're here to just help everybody in the dental community as much as we can. Thanks, guys, and we'll hit you next time.

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0:15:44.3 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.