DR. ACE GOERIG
OWNER & CO-FOUNDER
Improved efficiency in the operatory while providing treatment to patients creates a more productive practice and a more enjoyable clinical environment. Highly efficient doctors master their clinical efficiency and develop their team to support productivity at the highest level. In this Part 1 article, here are 10 tips for doctors to improve their clinical efficiency. The next newsletter will share tips for the team.
#1 Seeing and knowing the final result
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. When you can anticipate the complete treatment process for a case and you know the final result that you can get, you can focus on the most efficient treatment approach to achieve it. With effective use of today’s diagnostic tools and imaging technologies, doctors never need to open up a tooth blindly, and clinical surprises such as additional or even convoluted canals can be planned for in advance without losing time hunting around inside the tooth.
#2 Commitment to clinical excellence
In any endeavor, the mark of a master is a combination of exceptional proficiency and accrued experience over time. Mastering endodontics means taking a personal interest in how endodontics is practiced and delivered. When you love the profession, you are naturally motivated by curiosity and self-assessment to stay at the top of your game through clinical education and professional development. Being engaged with your colleagues, new techniques and technology, and clinical developments makes striving for clinical excellence a daily discipline that is part of every case.
#3 Knowing the limitations of your instrumentation
Getting down into canals and cleaning them out efficiently means understanding the limitations of your instrumentation and when/how to use rotary and/or hand files most effectively during treatment. It also helps to avoid unwelcome treatment complications such as separated instruments or perforations, which can kill your efficiency if they happen too frequently. And then, when a complication does happen, knowing how to efficiently address it is key.
#4 Learn timesaving clinical tricks
A clinical trick is a streamlined technique that achieves the desired clinical result, but in a way that is fast, efficient and predictable. Often clinical tricks are developed through experience and repetition, and they chiefly benefit those components of clinical care that are routine but can be time-consuming. A favorite example is suturing techniques. We all remember the experience of being a newly graduated doctor and getting frustrated by suturing until someone shows us a better way. There’s lot of little steps in treatment that can be improved like this, which cumulatively add up to a big improvement in efficiency.
#5 Efficient patient and team communication
In so many practices that we work with as coaches, it is common to observe team members communicating with the patient about their symptoms and the treatment process, and then the doctor comes in and repeats everything to the same level of detail as if the initial conversation never happened. Be aware of when you are duplicating any efforts with your team because long patient conversations often drain the doctor’s efficiency and energy.
#6 Time yourself
An athlete measures their performance in order to create a benchmark for improvement. Doctors should do the same thing when it comes to clinical efficiency. How long does it take for you to greet and diagnose the patient? How long for anesthesia? How long for access, instrumentation and obturation? The purpose of timing yourself is not to push you to uncomfortable speeds, but to create awareness of efficiency improvements. In turn, that can influence how you schedule and your overall productivity. Many doctors routinely schedule 2-hour appointments for a root canal that actually only requires one hour or less of real treatment time.
#7 Boost focus and flow
Clinical focus and flow is defined as when you are “in the zone” during clinical treatment and everything is happening in a smooth, unrushed but focused way. Pay attention to the things that take you out of that zone. For example, an interruption or distraction from outside of the treatment room. You should strive to stay under the microscope once treatment begins without having to look up or away. What takes you away from the microscope? Frequently, it’s an assistant who hasn’t anticipated your next step, isn’t ready to hand you something, or who needs to leave the room for some reason.
#8 Create a systematic clinical approach
For your assistant to anticipate your needs and help you stay in the zone, and for your own clinical efficiency and smooth flow, a consistent approach to accessing the tooth, instrumentation and obturation makes a huge difference. There are 100 ways to skin a cat, as they say, and that especially applies to clinical treatment. You need to narrow down your clinical approach from every possible way to a selective and systematic process that allows you to be highly efficient with predictable outcomes, and during treatment your assistant can easily stay one step ahead of you.
#9 Mentorship from a highly efficient doctor
Efficiency is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Seeing how all the clinical choices, techniques and teamwork come together is often the inspiration to elevate your efficiency. There is nothing better than being mentored by a doctor who is highly efficient. For you and your team, seeing it done in person or via virtual observation lets you understand how all the pieces fit together.
#10 Belong to a mastermind group
So much of my enjoyment and progression in the profession comes from spending time with colleagues who I learn from and who motivate me to continual self and practice improvement. Belonging to a mastermind group like our Mastery Circle group puts you in an environment where clinical, practice and financial success come together and drive you forward in every aspect of your practice enjoyment.
Bonus: Coaching as the foundation
A practice has many moving parts, and a professional practice coach was instrumental to my early success. I thought I was doing everything right until she showed me how to systematize clinical and practice efficiency. For doctors interested in clinical and practice growth, Endo Mastery’s enhanced coaching program now includes advanced clinical team training. It’s the most complete coaching solution you can find in endodontics today.