Episode 758: Making Exams As Easy As Possible

 Britt and Tiff focus on ways teams can streamline skills in 2024. This episode is all about standardizing exams, for one doctor or multiple. They talk about ideas to streamline, how to involve the right people in implementation, and more

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01.099)

Back at it again, Brit! Here we are!

 

Britt (00:03.597)

It's test time!

 

Tiffanie (00:07.099)

your face. Again, I will say it every time. I'm so happy we do it this way. It's just so much fun. How are you today? How's your world? I feel like you've got extra pups at home today. You are like dog anting it up over there and I love it. How's it going? Yeah.

 

Britt (00:17.902)

to you.

 

Britt (00:23.131)

It's going good. I mean, always a good day when we get to be on video together 100%. And then, yeah, I'm a dog and we call them all we most of them are pugs and we call those ones Puggins. So I don't have a pug today.

 

Tiffanie (00:28.988)

I agree.

 

Tiffanie (00:37.347)

Oh, that's cute. That's cute. What kind of dog do you have with you? I assumed it was one of the Pugans.

 

Britt (00:44.23)

It wasn't a pug in, but it's a blue healer. My brother has a blue healer, Andy. She's she's a great dog. She's extremely obedient, very opposite from Bertie. My dog does pretty good, but she's a labradoodle and people will win her over every time and she will not listen if there is someone that she can go be friends with. So

 

Tiffanie (00:49.012)

So beautiful.

 

Tiffanie (01:01.615)

I have come to the conclusion that doodles live in their own world 100% of the time and they just do what they want. Sometimes that aligns with what you wanted them to do and sometimes it doesn't and they're just like, there's a butterfly, I'm chasing the butterfly.

 

Britt (01:07.086)

I'm sorry.

 

Britt (01:18.57)

percent birdie is who she is and I do love that about her but it's a little frustrating sometimes but it's hot in Arizona as you know it is summertime so I did take him out for a midday little break and now they're just lying here trying to cool off from being outside because they're spoiled dogs

 

Tiffanie (01:33.631)

Good. That's perfect. Well, I love that. I love that you've got the dogs today. Maybe they'll make an appearance. You know, my cat sometimes climb around behind me so we will see but that especially when she, you know, decides to climb my back. That's always great. Only happens when I'm doing zoom calls with practices and I'm like, it's totally fine. She her claws are great. Feels wonderful. So

 

Britt (01:46.67)

It's always a fun surprise when it happens.

 

Britt (01:58.833)

Thank you.

 

doesn't hurt at all.

 

Tiffanie (02:03.687)

Not at all. No, no, she's a peach. She's staring at me. So today I thought, let's, I thought.

 

we're kind of prepping for the end of the year, right? We get halfway done with the year and then we're prepping for the end of the year. That's just kind of the way time flows, especially in, I know, I know, it just happens. Especially in dental, I feel like our time just flies all the time. So I'm kind of thinking of ways that we can prep our teams to expand on what they've done this year, next year. Because we're gonna, by the time this releases, it's gonna be really kind of prep time for next year. And I think one of those areas is something we talk about a lot.

 

Britt (02:20.498)

It's August already.

 

Tiffanie (02:43.365)

of different podcasts. You and I just recorded one not that recent or not that long ago about like how to add to exams and how we can help support as a support team our doctors in exams. And so I thought today like what are some things we could chat about that make an exam standardized because especially for practices who are considering onboarding associates or maybe have associates

 

Tiffanie (03:12.599)

I could be speaking gibberish, or some of you may agree with me or align with me on this. I think as a team member, it gets really confusing and sometimes frustrating chair side when you're used to something and then it goes awry. Or if you can't get used to something because there's no standardization. And so we forget in our brains, I talk to practices about this a lot.

 

we tend to not understand that those little areas that could be made routine, where you do the thing over and over again, they cause chaos and frustration and stress in our brains because it's always different and it's unexpected. That's human nature. We're designed to be in community and in routine, to have to do the same thing. We get frustrated. We're like, I'm doing the same thing all the time. But that's what keeps our mind at ease, right? The like...

 

every now and again those changes. So when a doctor comes in, this is my favorite because I have experienced this. This is my favorite thing to talk about. When a doctor comes in and they're like, all right, let's do this exam. And they sit down and they're like, wow, okay. We can put our watch on number two. I see some shadowing there. And then number 18, that.

 

filling looks really cracked. I think we need to probably do a crown over there. But number five, number five is definitely that's got some decay over there. So we might do a filling there. But let me let me decide. But number 30 for sure. And I'm over there like, are you on like, are we documenting the right teeth? Number one. And I can't my brain can't keep up with where your brain's at because we're not following the teeth.

 

I don't care what order you go in front to back.

 

Tiffanie (04:57.439)

But it's got to have a routine. This hopping around makes me second guess that I'm documenting it correctly. It gives chaos in my brain, and then there's confusion. So when I think of standardized exams, I think of getting as nitty gritty as that. How are you going through the mouth, and what works for you as a doctor, and what works for your team? Britt, what do you think? That's one of my favorite mind-boggling things, because everybody's always like, oh my gosh, yes, that drives me crazy, but we don't say it to the doctor.

 

we just kind of keep it to ourselves. But what are some other things you can think of or do you relate to that? Like, what does that bring up for you?

 

Britt (05:33.674)

I mean, for sure, hygiene brain relates to it. I'm like, could you imagine if hygienists started calling out random teeth and doing period charting that way? Even when hygienists do that with recession, I'm like, are you sure you're catching everything if you're not going in the same order all the time to make sure you're seeing everything that's there? So like, absolutely. I also think of, so I worked for quite a while as a hygienist in a practice that had five doctors, right? So you can imagine five different doctors.

 

Tiffanie (05:40.795)

Oh, I would die. I would die.

 

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (05:49.819)

Yes.

 

Tiffanie (06:02.527)

Hmm.

 

Britt (06:03.13)

We got things somewhat systematized, but I still at least knew each doctor, what things were important to them. Because it is hard for team members, whether it's one doctor or whether it's five doctors, when I think I've got everything set and ready to go for you. And then you want something else. And whether you express the frustration or not, the hygienist type A in me is like, oh my gosh, I did not do something right. So.

 

Tiffanie (06:14.204)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (06:24.787)

Yeah, yeah, you're internalizing it for sure.

 

Britt (06:29.55)

Exactly, that I'm like, well, great, miss that one, or should I have had that? Or like, why didn't you tell me that? The internal dialogue starts going off. Whereas when we have a set system for how to do things, that's really easy. Again, expectation is the same all the way from like how things are set up for the doctor when they come in. Like I had one doctor that wants what goes there for, you know, oral cancer screening, like whatever it is that you need to be set up for success. And then doctor goes in and follows the same, right? So if it's oral cancer screening, first, they do the

 

They're looking for the same thing, right? Going in order of the teeth, calling it out for me in the same order, whatever it is that's needed makes life so much easier and makes team members also feel like they can win because they know what you want. They can give you what you want. And at the end of the day, I don't care. I've worked with hundreds of team members at this point. They all want to do right by you and give you what you want at the end of the day.

 

Tiffanie (07:21.747)

Yeah.

 

Yeah, I agree. I we're all here to please the doctor. Like we are people pleasers to a fault. That's why we're in the health care industry. So just use that to your advantage. I think we all think of that as like, oh, I'm a people pleaser. It's so wrong. Like there's nothing wrong with you or the way that you are. Just know that you're a people pleaser and doctors know you're a people pleaser too. And you're dealing with other people pleasers. So allow them to please you. Give somebody a win. So that's my pedestal. Yeah, let them help you.

 

Britt (07:26.71)

Yeah.

 

Britt (07:49.282)

Help them help you.

 

Tiffanie (07:53.665)

that. So I, you know, take notes. So I'm thinking, I'm listening and I'm taking notes on how you guys, taking information from this, because you know we're super actionable, how you guys can implement something like this in your practice if you don't already have a standardized exam, or maybe there's things that you hear today that you can add into your exams. So I love this setup. I think that's huge. And coming up with something that...

 

five doctors can agree on, right? Because if you've got to remember then as a hygienist, every doctor wants something different on their setup. Number one, you don't always know which doctor's coming to you. So doctors, be aware of that. They don't know sometimes which one of you is going to come in for that exam. So having those expectations clear and aligned is really important because everybody then can win. So what does that set up need to look like? I love the wet gauze, like I think.

 

I would think that a lot of doctors could appreciate that idea and a lot of patients.

 

Britt (08:50.094)

I've even had some doctors like in busy offices, and here's where I'm like team members, whatever doctor wants that makes sense, that like see the big picture and how it makes it easier. Like I've even had a doctor and it was a crazy busy office and he's doing a million exams that he wanted a pair of gloves out ready for him to go. And I'm like, done.

 

If it's gonna make your exam quicker and make us more efficient, that is super easy for me to do, not a problem at all. So whatever those little things are that are gonna make it easy for everyone and make doctor most efficient, because I tell offices all the time, doctors are your limiting factor, right? There's one or there's always fewer of them and there are more of us team members, there are limiting factors. So if I can make their time more efficient, they're gonna be able to do more for all of us throughout the day.

 

Tiffanie (09:16.075)

for sure.

 

Tiffanie (09:24.659)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (09:34.479)

I love that. And I think something I thought of is like the picture of my doctors walking into the room going to grab a glove. My doctor that I worked for the anger on his face and annoyance when that box was empty. And you're just like, Oh crap, give me five seconds. And he's like, I don't have five seconds. Like I'm going to go do somebody else's exam now because you weren't actually ready for me. And then you're just like, shoot, like, I get it. So I think that's smart even just to make sure that you've got what you need for him not even just set out.

 

Britt (09:47.084)

Uh...

 

Tiffanie (10:04.453)

but or heard but that it's there and available.

 

So I love that. So making sure the setups are standardized. Doctors, here's the deal. This is my first action item for you. Schedule a meeting with your doctors if you have multiple doctors. And if not, maybe your hygiene team docs or hygienist, whatever you've got in your practice, and come up with a way that you guys could standardize this type of situation. So if you've got multiple doctors, that setup is gonna be key because you guys need to have a similar setup alignment. And really, I think...

 

Something you said, Britt, was how can we make this easier?

 

Right? And really coming to terms with the why behind something. So if I've got one doctor that's like, I want my gauze wet and the other doctors are like, that is ridiculous. Why do you want it wet? I personally, you said that I was like, dang, as a patient, I would appreciate that. Right? I don't want, I hate the dry. I don't think anyone likes the dry cotton in your mouth. It sucks. It just, it makes you feel like you have cotton mouth all of a sudden. And you're just like, give me some water. So I appreciate that as a patient, but those are the types of things that maybe not everybody's in alignment with. So be

 

Britt (10:59.57)

sticks to their tongue and like, yeah.

 

Tiffanie (11:11.069)

open to the conversation of different ideas of what an exam could be and then be open to altering what your preference and style is so that you guys can come to terms and really just come up with a single standardized way. So

 

Britt (11:26.27)

And if you have multiple doctors, let me just throw this in Tiff, if you have multiple doctors, if you have a hygienist who has worked with you two plus years, I guarantee you they could tell you the quirks of every single one. Or like the assistants can tell you the quirks once they've worked with you long enough and they've worked with all the different doctors, whereas doctors may not know all those things about each other. So bringing the team in, I like that you said that, or bringing the hygienist into it to say, hey, like what would be, what's most similar between everything? Like what would be the easiest way

 

Tiffanie (11:29.372)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (11:38.987)

for sure.

 

Tiffanie (11:46.6)

Yeah.

 

Britt (11:56.364)

all doctors.

 

Tiffanie (11:57.615)

I love that. Yeah, that's a good idea. And maybe having that if you're going to have a calibration meeting, maybe having that hygienist or assistant there with the doctors to help figure those nuances out because I don't think oftentimes we even know our own nuances, other people have to point them out to us. I think that's small or smart. So schedule a calibration meeting come together and figure out what your setup needs to be. How is it going to be easiest for you to come in and just GSD that exam? And then I was thinking also things to include in your standard

 

standardizations to consider. So you're set up, but then you're handoff. So we've talked a ton about handoffs. Pull some of that information. What do you want that handoff standardization to be? Cause doctors, I'm not here to just like harp on you and say you need to do better. This is a full team effort. So create, schedule your calibration meeting, create what that system looks like. So set up handoffs and then what's your routine. So do you start at tooth number one or two, right? And go all the way to 31 or 32.

 

Or are you starting on a different side? Are you starting with teeth? Are you starting with x-rays? Are you starting with oral cancer screening? What's your routine so that it's the same every time?

 

you guys, these action items aren't only going to help you, they're going to help your team, it's going to it's going to remove stress, because it's going to increase efficiency, which removes stress in practices. And you guys, it also gives your patients something that they can count on. Because I'm telling you right now, your patients are listening to everything you're saying. And if you're like number three, number five, number 15, number 32, number 12, number nine, they're like one, they already don't know what the

 

around that doesn't make sense to them at all, more less, it makes more nonsense, yeah, than it even made before. They're like coming out of that, like what are you even talking about? Now you're trying to sell them on treatment?

 

Britt (13:42.479)

Last sentence?

 

you

 

Tiffanie (13:52.235)

and you're not doing yourselves any favors. So standardize those things. Schedule a meeting, come up with a plan. What's the setup? What are your handoffs? And what's the routine that you're following? Standardize those for the new year and then implement it. Give yourselves like six weeks or so, check back in, do another calibration meeting and see what you're seeing. Like what are the results? Do you see case acceptance increase? Do you see happier hygienists? What are your hygienists seeing? How are they feeling? What's the overall vibe of it?

 

are good, do we need to add to it, do we need to take away what needs to happen? So set a calibration meeting for now, create it, and then set a calibration meeting for six weeks after implementation so that you guys can test it and then take a look at what the results are.

 

Britt (14:39.114)

And with your exams, when you've got a system, right? So not even just looking at the teeth in like what order you look at them, but doctors, I guarantee you, it helps you not to miss things. When you go in the same order every single time, it'll make you more thorough with your exams. Also how you talk about additional services such as aligning the teeth, right? Or cosmetic things that might be an option. When you build that in and focus on if it is the way you wanna do it,

 

when it's like, all right, here's have to's, right? Here's things that are gonna benefit you long-term, that are a good investment to make things stable, and here's some coulds, wishes, if you want to do them type of a thing. It also makes it easier, like Tiff said, for patients to follow, and you're not jumping around where they're like, well, why are they talking about this cosmetic thing when now they're telling me this thing is super important that has to get done? Following a flow there as well helps patients, and will guarantee you it will help your case acceptance.

 

Tiffanie (15:38.315)

I love that. That's beautiful. And that's kind of that's an exam protocol. So within your standardized exam, make sure your actual exam and the treatment planning that you're vocalizing your patients is in an order as well. I agree. And I think, like I said before, it takes some of the thinking out, right? Whenever you standardize something or make it a routine. And so knowing what you're going to talk about first keeps you

 

from forgetting things that you wanted to talk about, and it keeps you in a good flow. So I think it overall will help everything. I love it.

 

Britt (16:07.042)

And I think of it kind of like, think of musicians that have music memorized, right? Like once you've got it memorized, they've got the basic things down, then they like add in all these little things that make it sound amazing. Like same thing, it's like, all right, get your basics down, so that's always done the same thing. You know the music, you know the notes, you know the cadence to it. And then when you present, you can add in those little things that make it sound even better.

 

Tiffanie (16:18.463)

For sure.

 

Tiffanie (16:32.147)

I love that it's kind of like the radio edit versus the concert edition. And you're like, Whoa, I've never heard it like this before because they got really good at it and they decided to improv a little bit. So I love it. Yeah.

 

Britt (16:36.595)

Mm-hmm.

 

Britt (16:42.174)

And I see their like true talent that it's like, oh, they don't just kind of know it. Like they really know what they're doing.

 

Tiffanie (16:47.811)

Yeah, for sure. I love that. And then you guys think of yourselves as professionals like that too, because you are that person. So give yourself some credit and some kudos. Awesome. All right, I hope you wrote down those action items unless you're driving. I hope you did not. And then come back to this later when you're not driving and write them down. Go schedule both of those calibration meetings. Come to terms with what that needs to look like and create that protocol. You guys, I can't wait to hear about it. As always.

 

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and we love supporting all of our amazing doctors and listeners, so let us know how we can help you. If you haven't already, drop us a five star review. We love hearing from you guys. We'd like to know that this information was valuable to you because just like I want you to be efficient and not wasting your time, I don't wanna waste your time either. So if you're feeling like, I didn't really like that and I would love to hear more about this, like that's what I wanna know. I wanna hear more about this little piece that was in there, tell us. Email us, drop us a review. We wanna hear from you guys. Thanks so much.

 

being here and I can't wait to yeah I can't wait to podcast with you again. Awesome thanks guys.

 

Britt (17:52.95)

Thanks for having me.