Here we go again!
At the beginning of 2013, my resolutions remained intact for at least a week which I actually thought was pretty good going. I stayed off sticky food despite the mountains of cake and chocolates left in the kitchen. Facebook remained unopened for a week which left me more time to read and catch up with paperwork. My sister had resolved to give up Social Networks too, but after three months she eventually gave in order to find out what the kids were doing! My other big resolution was to try and give patients better value, but I lost track on this one because I couldn`t work out how to measure `value`.
So this year, I`m going to forget even trying to stop picking at fatty snacks and I`m going to keep Twitter open (because I`m really nosey). 2014 will be the year of `patient satisfaction` because I feel the happier patients are, the happier I will be!
Dental Resolutions #1
You`ve heard the phrase to `walk in someone`s shoes`? Well, I`m going to apply this to work. From the moment a patient comes into the surgery I am going to try seeing everything from their point of view. This means seeing through their eyes and imagining how I might be feeling in their place. The chances are that from this perspective I will be explaining a lot more about treatments and asking more questions about their life in order to create a deeper rapport.
Dental Resolutions #2
I am going to make the effort to create more treatment plans for each individual, so that they have more choice. After all, choice feels good. It is always a good move to allow patients to take control of what happens to them and the best way of doing this is to establish a road map for treatments so that they can steer the way. Choice is good for business because it also means that they are more likely to commit to treatment of some sort rather than just go away and think about it. Lots of choices, lots of smiles all round.
Dental Resolutions #3
At last, I`m going to create weekly practice meetings rather than the stressful monthly ones. This will, in theory, allow minor grumbles from both sides to be dealt with reasonably rather than fester on. It also means that targets are more meaningful and more achievable. Happy staff, happy dentist!
Happy New Year everyone.
