Hygiene Schedule Blockage Is A Sign
Hygiene schedule blockage is a sign that your dental hygiene schedule needs a little update! Don’t fret! There are a couple of different ways we can open those roads back up.
What exactly is hygiene schedule blockage?
Let me give you an example!
When you look out a couple of weeks into your hygiene schedule, how many open appointments do you see?
If you are not finding open hygiene appointments where you can schedule new patient prophys or active periodontal treatment, there is a blockage problem.
How to Fix This
You may want to add more hygiene time by bringing in another hygienist or hygiene assistant. If this is not an option for your practice, here are some other steps you can take.
- Analyze how many new patient appointments and active perio appointments your hygiene department needs each day. You will be able to do this by tracking the number of new patients seen each week and the number of active perio appointments treatment planned. You can also run reports to see how many new patient prophys and active perio appointments were scheduled in previous months.
Hygiene Schedule Blockage Fix
- Once you have your numbers, create a template of what your ideal hygiene schedule would look like to accommodate these patients each day of the week.
- Your hygiene schedule will have blocks to hold space for your new patient prophys and your active periodontal treatment. Wait to fill these blocks with anything else until 2 days before the date of that appointment.
Short-Notice Call Lists
Now you have created your template and your blocks. You will probably find that you are scheduling your regular established patients out a little more than you were! How will we manage that?
Create a strong hygiene call list! Take the time to get to know your patients and their schedules so that you know who might be able to move their appointments when.
Use a binder with different days of the week, hygienists names, even the months of the year. You might also prefer using your computer software. Whatever you decide, make sure the entire team has access to this list and knows how to use it too!
The Hygiene Coordinator Role
One team member should be responsible for hygiene management as the hygiene coordinator. The hygiene schedule requires time, energy, and focus. It will also need to change and grow as the practice grows and changes. It is best to have one person who knows the practice and knows the patients!
Add more hygiene time where you can. There may be a hygienist you would like to bring in from time to time. Maybe a few additional hours a week would help alleviate some of the blockage or backup. Try to stay flexible and move with the pulse of the practice.
