Discover the 8 essentials of scheduling.
Updated 6/30/20
Scheduling is the heartbeat of the dental practice. A well scheduled day can lead to productivity, profitability, and stress control, and will support the quality care of your patients.
At The Jameson Group, we believe that there are eight essentials of scheduling:
- Schedule toward a pre-determined goal: yearly, monthly, and daily.
- Schedule a variety of procedures every day: primary, secondary, tertiary.
- Pre-block for approximately ½ of your daily goal with primary procedures.
- Implement appropriate delegation (according to the laws of your state) so that the doctor is doing the things that only a doctor can do.
- Do a time-in-motion study to realize accuracy in time allotments. Schedule both doctor time and assistant time.
- Provide hygiene evaluations at a natural break in the doctor’s schedule rather than at the end of a hygiene appointment.
- Make financial arrangements prior to the scheduling of an appointment.
- Schedule fewer patients in a day, doing more dentistry when and where appropriate, and see the patient for fewer visits. They will appreciate you and your daily productivity will increase, it’s a profitable way to practice, and much less stressful.
Know that the key to productivity is not how many patients you are seeing in a day but, rather, how much dentistry you are doing in a day. That’s the key.
No matter how well you may think that you are scheduling at this time, do yourself a favor and look for places where you can tweak or improve upon each of the eight areas above. Remember: The schedule is the heartbeat of your practice. Take good care of it!
Learn More
For additional ideas and advice, download Scheduling for Higher Efficiency, Production and Profit from Henry Schein.
To learn more about setting up the Appointment Book or generating appointment lists, see the Appointment Book Setup and the Appointment Lists Overview in Dentrix Help files.
Read Scheduling for Higher Efficiency, Production, and Profit and The Secrets to Stress-Free Scheduling for more ideas about improving your schedule.
By Cathy Jameson, founder of Jameson Management
Cathy Jameson is the founder and chief visionary officer of Jameson Management, an international dental management, marketing, and hygiene coaching firm. The Jameson Method of Management, developed by Cathy, offers proven management, marketing, and hygiene systems for helping dental professionals improve their practices. Cathy earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and then a master’s degree in psychology from Goddard College. She recently received her doctorate from Walden University. She considers herself a lifelong learner and encourages those around her to be in a constant state of study, growth, and action.
