Staying Productive at Home

In light of the recent closures recommended by the RCDSO, many of you in the dental industry may find yourself practicing social distancing at home. It may be tempting to think that since you’re not at the office, there’s nothing much you can do but let time pass by. However, this is the best time to stay productive and keep your mind sharp.

Here’s a list of things you and your staff can do remotely so that everyone is prepared when the dental practices can reopen:

 

Take Online Courses

There are many courses offered online, and some are even free! Now that you have more time during self-isolation, it’s a good idea to take this time to buckle down and hit the (virtual) books!

You may find these resources useful:

www.utooth.ca
Take this time to earn your CE points. Brush up on your dental knowledge and stay sharp for when the dental offices re-open.

www.wsps.ca
Workplace safety courses are important for the office, but often there isn’t enough time to go through them. Courses such as Health and Safety Awareness for Ontario Workers and Workplace Mental Health Awareness could be useful for your practice.

Many universities also offer free online courses that you could benefit from, such as business courses that can help you better run and manage your clinic.

 

Administrative Housekeeping

If you have a backlog of administrative work, this is the best time to do some housekeeping and check off that to-do list that you’ve always been too busy to tackle. Here are some essential but often overlooked tasks to on:

Run reports on your dental software, like Paradigm Clinical, to compile a list of patients due for recares. Once you have this list, start thinking of effective ways to bring these patients back when the office reopens, whether through calls or mass emails.

Take a look at patients with ongoing treatment plans as well, so that you have an idea of what’s to come when the office is back in business.

Finally, this period at home is a good time to set new goals for the clinic to be productive and determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:

  • Financial goals: overall revenue, average revenue per patient, expenses, etc.
  • Growing patient base: total active patients, change in number of patients, referrals, etc.
  • Schedule optimization: number of no-shows and cancellations, length of downtime between appointments, patient wait time, etc.

 

Plan to Step Up Cyber Security at the Clinic

Cyber crimes will continue to happen regardless of the pandemic, so it is important that your data is secure even when the office is closed. Since the office will have some down time, you can consider enhancing the clinic’s data security. Here are a few things you can do:

  • Upgrade computer systems to the latest operating system
  • Set up an enterprise-level firewall
  • Install anti-ransomware software
  • Create encrypted backup of your database

Although gather at the office isn’t allowed, you can also have a virtual conference with your staff for a cyber security awareness training session. To learn more about data security at the office, click here for more details.

 

Communicate with Patients

This time of uncertainty is the most important time to keep in contact with your patients. Continue staying in touch with your patients with newsletters to keep them updated about the office and let them know what’s going to happen with their cancelled appointments.

Since your patients won’t be seeing you for their teeth cleanings, you can also send out informative newsletters to teach them how to care for their teeth until they can reschedule their next recare. If you have our Newsletter Module, we also have a library of oral health-related articles you can use!

 

Although you may not be at the office, we hope that this list will help you stay productive. If you need help with accessing your Paradigm Clinical remotely, please give us a call! Our technical support line will remain active to answer any other questions you may have as well.

Once again, we hope that you’re staying safe and healthy amid this pandemic. Keep up with personal hygiene and practice social distancing.