Episode 762: The Perfect Morning Huddle

Tiff and Britt detail how to perfectly prep each day at your practice through the art of morning huddles. They give advice on what needs to be reviewed, what should’ve been done yesterday, and how each department can help.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01.67)

at it again, Britt and Tiff. I love it. How are you today, Britt?

 

Britt (00:05.828)

I'm doing awesome. Excited to be here podcasting. It's always a good time and I get to spend time with you, Tiff.

 

Tiffanie (00:11.638)

Ah, thank you. You let me go on wild tangents and let me just be me and I appreciate that about you.

 

Britt (00:18.341)

Hey, I love the assistant energy. I bring the hygiene energy. It's great.

 

Tiffanie (00:22.93)

Seriously, I think we would have the most fun and practice together. Like, I think Kira 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, like you guys sign up. Like, oh my gosh. We would have been the most efficient, fun, productive office ever. So, you're welcome. Okay.

 

Britt (00:25.749)

I think we would have a bedtime.

 

Britt (00:30.688)

Oh yeah.

 

Britt (00:34.528)

Keep your mind in the office and be good time.

 

Britt (00:41.628)

100%.

 

Tiffanie (00:45.39)

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? Like 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 a 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, like, I think that the morning huddle preps that we have are something that would have been fantastic in my practice and would have 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.

 

Britt (01:44.492)

Thank you.

 

Britt (01:53.896)

Yeah, absolutely. Let me just guess, have you gotten the answer of like, well, this is stuff I do anyway. So like, I'm already prepping for my day. I feel like that's a common answer we get when it comes to hygienists, right?

 

Tiffanie (01:59.986)

Yes.

 

Tiffanie (02:05.202)

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.

 

Britt (02:08.202)

Like.

 

Britt (02:11.868)

We're just going to make sure all of us are doing some prep in the same way to make sure then when we all come together for 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? They're like, how do you have a plan for your day if you don't do a morning huddle? I'm like, dentistry.

 

Tiffanie (02:15.561)

Exactly.

 

Tiffanie (02:26.326)

Yes.

 

Tiffanie (02:39.326)

I agree.

 

Britt (02:40.686)

my view because it's so useful.

 

Tiffanie (02:43.456)

I totally agree. It is. I think the same thing. I'm like other industries. I'm like, what do you, how do you guys get on the same page? Because our morning huddle is really, they get us on the same page. They show us how we can win the day and

 

Britt (02:48.785)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (02:55.39)

They help us figure out what we need to do. And 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 like both of those sides of your brain?

 

Britt (02:57.876)

Yes.

 

Britt (03:11.912)

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

 

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 are they do for today, do they need x-rays, do they need period charting, what's going on, what's this appointment today, making sure that what's actually like scheduled in the appointment is what actually needs to be done today, making sure all the codes are correct in there.

 

Tiffanie (04:05.867)

Mm-hmm, that's a big one. Yeah.

 

Britt (04:09.436)

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. Those are some of the big things that I'm looking at when it comes to hygiene.

 

Tiffanie (04:38.246)

I love that.

 

Tiffanie (04:42.67)

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 can make sure all your instruments are ready and your day is ready to go.

 

Britt (05:11.9)

I will throw for dental assistants with x-rays. Still make sure you've got that pre-op x-ray. So dental assistant, even though they might not be coming in and doing like your, your biming 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.

 

Tiffanie (05:18.459)

Oh, good job. Yeah. Touche.

 

Tiffanie (05:30.758)

That was Britt's office manager and billing rep person coming out. I loved it. Yes, you're right. Side tangent, you know what I love in offices is when, because I know because my doctor tried this too and we tried it, is when the dental assistants are like, well, why is it not being done when it's diagnosed? It's like, so you want...

 

Britt (05:35.361)

100%. Those ding assistants, make sure we've got that x-ray.

 

Britt (05:47.02)

I'm sorry.

 

Tiffanie (05:55.066)

Now, you know, not being the dental assistant that's like, yeah, that makes perfect sense, because then I don't have to do it. So now being like out of it, I'm like, okay, so you want them to take the x-rays, do the period 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 for sure.

 

Britt (05:58.52)

That's hygiene problem, why is that hygiene doing that?

 

Britt (06:20.4)

If you're a dentist, have the time for it. Like 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.

 

Tiffanie (06:30.614)

Right, because if it's not there at the end of the day, dental assistance, 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, you know, period 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

 

Britt (06:36.99)

Okay.

 

Tiffanie (07:00.648)

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's 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

 

be like, yeah, you're right, let's just do it, because I'm not coming back for it. So outstanding treatment, 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, correct.

 

Britt (07:52.956)

if there are any preference they want to go by to make sure that we get called by the right name, anything like that.

 

Tiffanie (07:59.698)

Name preference is huge, huge. I had a patient that refused to come to the back office if we didn't call him doctor.

 

Britt (08:08.651)

Thank you.

 

Tiffanie (08:08.762)

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 patients specific. So names are huge. And then on both sides too, for dental assistants, you're looking to make sure your patients have recently had their cleaning. So are they due for their re-care? It happens a lot to 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 into with the 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 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 re-care schedule filled. So your prep forms.

 

Britt (09:13.42)

to really look for the opportunity for like, when we're prepping charts, like, yes, it's for today, like 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.

 

Tiffanie (09:25.613)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (09:29.582)

100% because that's the patient experience, right? We want to make it a good patient experience. And if I can, if you're in for a crown prep on the doctor's schedule, I see this all the time. I'd be like, Hey, your crown's milling.

 

Like it's going to 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 in 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 three hours and then you tell me I've got to come back for another hour. Like,

 

I'd be like, okay, well, give me some time. Like, I need some time off. I just gave you three hours. I just did my hair today and I gave her three hours, right? I'm not gonna go back in two weeks for another hour with her. I'd be like, no, girlfriend, like 10 weeks. 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 like the trouble patient. I am the one that's like, if you don't do it today, I'm gonna forget that we needed to do it. I'm gonna tell you to put me on the ASAP list. When you call me to move my appointment up, I'm never gonna be able to. I, 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 am, this is my job and I still do it to my office. I'm like, I love you guys. I'm so sorry.

 

Britt (11:02.41)

I'm sorry.

 

Britt (11:06.624)

Yeah

 

Tiffanie (11:06.974)

Anyways, create the prep forms. So that's your action item, you guys. Figure that out, figure out what's important, how are you gonna 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.

 

Because 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 excelled 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. Because we truly believe that if you're doing right by your patients, the universe responds,

 

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, prayer charting, et cetera.

 

Britt (12:08.16)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (12:13.35)

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 gasping.

 

those patients. Front office wise, it's the 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, all of those pieces are typically hit on. 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. And figure out how you're going to make that consistent for your team because it's going to it's going to be a game changer. Brett.

 

Britt (13:03.284)

Yep. And this is something that a lot of offices, right, that we work with and we go into like, 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, Brit, which hygiene is really good at. Like I got my column. 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.

 

Tiffanie (13:09.375)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (13:22.797)

Right.

 

Tiffanie (13:30.57)

Yeah, totally agree. 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.

 

Britt (13:55.124)

We're good assistant hygiene duo, Tiff. Thanks for having me. Ha ha ha.

 

Tiffanie (13:57.366)

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 helloatthedentalateam.com and as always we love to hear your thoughts on our.

 

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 because 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.