By Carola Hicks

 

It is about effective leadership or, the process of directing the behavior of others toward the accomplishment of some common objectives; in this case working safely, in a safe environment. It does not mean that one person gets to ‘boss’ others but, does mean influencing people to get things done to a standard and quality to the benefit of office staff as well as patients.

 

What is leadership that promotes a culture of safety?
Organizational culture consists of attitudes, values and beliefs that are demonstrated in the workplace on a daily basis and affect the mental and physical well-being of employees; such as

• respect
• appreciation
• commitment to balanced workloads and job enrichment
• decision latitude
• employee involvement
• support for work-life balance

Strong leaders recognize that solid health and safety performance drives business results. They promote a culture of safety in their organizations, and integrate prevention measures into business strategies, processes and performance measures.

 

What the law says
The Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulations set out clear requirements for creating a safe and healthy physical work environment. Leaders go beyond meeting their legal obligations, and seek instead to meet the spirit of the law, knowing that organizational performance depends on healthy, safe, engaged employees.

 

How leadership can help your organizational culture
Advocating within their practices for employee health and safety is a fundamental, achievable and critical role for leaders; it resonates powerfully at both a business and social level. The business case for health and safety resonates whether the organization is motivated by its bottom line, reputation, or social responsibility.

 

What you can do
A prevention culture begins and ends with a leader’s passion for health and safety. CEOs, owners and other leaders in a dental practice can transform the workplace by:

• Making it personal -  who would tolerate an injury to oneself, one’s family members, or one’s co-workers?
• Demonstrating that health and safety matters by visibly implementing policies and procedures specifically addressing employees’ health and safety
• Making expectations of staff known, and holding them accountable, for example, around the critical issue of orientation training, which is often the weak link in an organization’s health and safety performance

Organizational commitment to Workplace Health and Safety is an integral part of staff retention and well being. Increasing awareness and legislative emphasis is placing more responsibility on leaders to ensure that the health and safety of all individuals is recognized as a fundamental element of their businesses success.

 

Health and safety are everyone’s responsibility; that is the basis of the Internal Responsibility System. It takes a good leader to ensure accountability; demonstrate your interest in creating safety by doing things yourself. Poor leaders don’t do what they ask others to do. Great leaders use their own actions to demonstrate what is important.

 

Carola Hicks graduated from Dental Hygiene, University of Toronto and is founder and CEO of Workplace Safety Group, experts in workplace health & safety.

Email:  carola@workplacesafetygroup.com 

 

By Carola Hicks

 

With an evolving health care system that demands greater independence, accountability and quality of service, dental hygiene must be proactive for increasing levels of responsibility and accountability in new and varied practice environments.

 

As mentioned in a previous blog, there is no question concerning the professional accreditation process to ensure patient/client safety at the hands of dental hygienists. The provincial regulatory bodies exist to ensure the safety of the public while under treatment by dental hygienists. It is the purpose of the respective provincial dental hygiene associations to advance the profession of dental hygiene through education and support to its’ members.

 

In reviewing the various provincial association websites it is evident that continuing education revolves around patient care; from record keeping to infection control to instrument care to nutrition to any number of patient focussed lectures, seminars and workshops. This is inarguably as it should be but, brings me back to the difference between patient care and worker care.

 

It must be made clear that dental hygienists need to look after themselves at least as well as they do their patients. It is not much different from the financial wisdom of “paying yourself first” as an investment strategy. Both are critical to successful career management.

 

As employees, dental hygienists are often at the mercy of their employers’ readiness to take on the responsibility toward them as employees. Dental Hygiene has come a long way and as a self-regulated profession in many jurisdictions, it is imperative that hygienists understand that they have the right to know about hazards they are exposed to in their workplaces and, have the right to receive training on mitigating those hazards. That is the employer’s responsibility. An independent dental hygiene practitioner, who employs others, has the same responsibility.

 

It is time for dental hygienists to embrace their professionalism and confidently approach their employers to ensure that they are treated with the same care and commitment shown to patients.

 

The health care sector, to which dental hygienists belong, faces the challenges of occupational hazard information transfer, including risk of violence, musculoskeletal disorders, infection transmission, equipment hazards to name a few. They must receive the training and preparation to carry out their jobs safely, first as a service to themselves in order to effectively and empathetically service their patients

 

Carola Hicks graduated from Dental Hygiene, University of Toronto and is founder and CEO of Workplace Safety Group, experts in workplace health & safety.

Email:  carola@workplacesafetygroup.com 

By Carola Hicks

After a lengthy search on Google for “healthy dental offices” I have come to realize that it’s all about the patient. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t be but, what about the dental office staff? In my previous Blog I began to address this issue because it was of concern in all the years I worked in dentistry.
How many dental hygienists actually understand that they have worker rights as well as responsibilities under their respective provincial occupational health and safety acts?
 
Do you understand what the IRS is? Do you have worker representation in your dental office? If your practice is large enough, do you have a health and safety committee?  Does your employer ensure that you are aware of the hazards that may negatively affect your personal health? Does your office have a written health and safety policy? Have you been WHMIS trained? Do you know what MSDS stands for? How is the possibility of workplace harassment and/or violence addressed? If an injury or workplace illness does occur, do you know the protocol for reporting to your respective provincial worker compensation board?
 
The list of questions is infinite and it is evident that each of the questions relates directly to the worker, whether dental hygienist, dental assistant, reception or administrative staff. As an employee your rights are protected. Should you not be at least as concerned for your own welfare as for that of your patients? After all, if you are not well, how can you offer your best to them? If you don’t feel that your employer cares for your welfare, how can he expect you to care for that of his patients?
 
To give you an overview and answer to some of the above questions let’s begin with worker representation. In most jurisdictions workplaces, having fewer than twenty employees, must have a health and safety representative who represents the interests of the workers in matters of occupational health and safety. Where there is a larger number of staff members, a health and safety committee is required. A committee usually has worker and management representation.
 
IRS refers to the Internal Responsibility System. In very simple terms this means that everyone in the workplace has equal responsibility to work in a safe manner, whether worker, supervisor or owner. It is a matter of accountability, not only to patients but also to coworkers.
 
Have you been provided with training or awareness of hazards to your personal health in the office? Specifically, have you had WHMIS training? WHMIS stands for Workplace Hazardous Material Information System and is Canada's national hazard communication standard. Anyone who works with or in proximity to hazardous substances must be WHMIS trained.
 
An important component of WHMIS is MSDS, Material Safety Data Sheet. The Hazardous Products Act (HPA) places a legal requirement on a Canadian supplier of a WHMIS controlled product "intended for use in a work place in Canada" to transmit an MSDS, disclosing prescribed information, as a condition of sale. Do you know how many controlled or hazardous materials are used in your office?
 
We have just touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In a future Blog I will address other important health and safety issues for dental personnel.
 
Carola Hicks graduated from Dental Hygiene, University of Toronto and is founder and CEO of Workplace Safety Group, experts in workplace health & safety.
 
Email:  carola@workplacesafetygroup.com 

By James Andrews

Saving a tooth could help protect your patients’ health

 

Stem cells are found in baby teeth that are naturally coming out and other healthy teeth being extracted, such as wisdom teeth. Dental stem cells have the potential to be used in both dental and medical applications, and have already been shown to regenerate mandibular bone and used to treat periodontal disease in human research studies. These new stem cell therapies are known as “regenerative medicine.” Research published in 2011 showed that dental stem cells can produce insulin, ¹ suggesting they could eventually play a role in treating type 1 diabetes. Similar to cord blood stem cells (which have been used to treat leukemia and blood-related cancers), dental stem cells are also being studied by researchers for treating conditions such as spinal cord injury, stroke, heart attack and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

1.Refer to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21335539 or http://www.store-a-tooth.com/applications/diabetes.php.

 

Case Selection: Which teeth can be saved?

 

Any tooth with healthy dental pulp and an active blood supply is a viable candidate for stem cell preservation:  exfoliating baby teeth, teeth pulled for braces, extracted wisdom teeth.

 

How “wiggly” can a baby tooth be?

 

For baby teeth, the optimal case is where the root has not fully resorbed, e.g. where the tooth has not exfoliated past the gum line.   However, as long as there is some healthy dental pulp, it’s possible to harvest the stem cells.   If there is only a small amount of pulp left, we generally recommend the parents choose a cell culture service. (This is where the cells are grown briefly in culture in order to expand the number of stem cells that will be cryopreserved.)

 

Which is better:  exfoliating deciduous teeth or permanent adult teeth?

 

Both.  Research shows that the younger the tooth, the more proliferative the stem cells, so that points to saving baby teeth.  However, wisdom teeth generally have more dental pulp, so may provide a larger quantity of stem cells that can be preserved.

 

Which is better:  incisors, bicuspids or molars?

 

All can be successfully stored.  There is reason to believe that exfoliating incisors or bicuspids may yield a greater amount of dental pulp.  It’s often helpful to review the child’s X-rays in order to choose the best candidate for tooth collection.

 

How to talk about dental stem cell banking with your patients

 

Do you have a child who’s losing a tooth soon?

 

Has your child in high school or college had their wisdom teeth extracted yet?

 

Did you bank or consider banking your child’s cord blood? 

 

Dental stem cell banking offers another chance to save your family’s stem cells. Banking dental stem cells with a service like Store-A-Tooth^TM enables families to collect and save the stem cells from their own teeth.

 

If you did bank your child’s cord blood, you can think of dental stem cells as complementary to cord blood stem cells (and vice versa!).  Dental stem cells are more suited for solid tissue applications than those from cord blood, while cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells and can be used for a bone marrow transplant, which dental stem cells cannot do.

 

Does the child have a known health condition or family risk factor?

 

If you know someone who has diabetes, you may be interested in hearing this.  Recent research showed that stem cells from teeth can produce islet-like cells which produce insulin in a glucose-responsive manner.  This is still early research, but suggests that dental stem cells may play a role in a future treatment for diabetes.

 

Conclusion:

 

Like OBGYNs before them with cord blood, it is the role of the dental hygienist to inform and educate their patients so that they can make an educated decision about storing their adult stem cells.

 

You can contact James for more information at www.Store-A-Tooth.com

 

It’s been many years since graduating from the University of Toronto, Dental Hygiene programme. As a matter of fact it’s exactly 40 years this month. I just received information on our upcoming reunion. As I reflect on the first few months, I recall the capping ceremony, yes that’s right we wore nurses caps with a mauve velvet stripe. The previous year’s students then lit our candles to signify a passing on of sorts. Can’t quite remember what was being passed on but I’ll attribute the memory lapse to forty years of life’s experiences.

 

After graduation I entered public health to educate primary school children on oral health and to conduct very cursory intraoral examinations on a selected segment of the school population. Examination instruments were soaked in a disinfecting solution for roughly thirty minutes before being used for the next group of children. I did not wear gloves, a mask, and safety glasses or, wash and use hand sanitizers between children. Throughout those early years a little voice in my head questioned what long-term health effects would befall me in later years. Aside from the direct contact with oral fluids, disinfecting solutions and breathing in aerosols I was exposed to a plethora of other chemical contaminants and biological hazards. This continued as I transitioned into private practice.

 

Enter once again that little voice suggesting that my health and safety were at risk.

 

Practising Dental Hygiene was a privilege and a passion. For over half my career I specialized in paediatric and orthodontic disciplines. When it was time to hang up my scalers I was far from ready to “retire”. Instead there was an opportunity to found a company specializing in workplace health and safety. One of my sincerest desires was to address issues that affect Dental Hygiene practitioners.

 

Dental Hygiene has come a long way since I graduated. No longer are hygienists employees only; they are employers and entrepreneurs. Along with these new roles come responsibilities under federal and provincial health and safety laws. Historically dentists have done everything possible for the safety of their clients but, as employers, not nearly enough to keep their employees safe and healthy. Interestingly, the following quote, although from an American source, identifies the lack of emphasis on health and safety for the health care worker.

 

May 18, 2011
“Health care is the second-fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing over 12 million workers. Women represent nearly 80% of the health care work force. Health care workers face a wide range of hazards on the job, including needle stick injuries, back injuries, latex allergy, violence, and stress. Although it is possible to prevent or reduce health care worker exposure to these hazards, health care workers actually are experiencing increasing numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses. Rates of occupational injury to healthcare workers have risen over the past decade.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

It is my personal quest to raise health and safety awareness for the Dental Hygiene profession. I look forward to contributing future Blogs and resources. You are welcome to email me with comments, suggestions or questions.

 

Carola Hicks graduated from Dental Hygiene, University of Toronto and is founder and CEO of Workplace Safety Group, experts in workplace health & safety - HTTP://WWW.WORKPLACESAFETYGROUP.COM

 

By Scott Gibson

 

Studies of ergonomics in the field of dental hygiene reveal that due to repetitive movements and constant body contortion to accommodate clients, dental hygienists benefit the most from wearing loupes. The benefit is by helping them to take control of their posture. Evaluating if the magnification is right for you begins with identifying your needs.

 

Questions to ask include: Do you wear contacts or do you need prescription glasses? Are you susceptible to headaches from wearing safety glasses? What types of safety glasses cause irritation? Does having an adjustable nose pad eliminate your headaches? Or are you sensitive to the tightness of your temple arms? Are your arms longer in proportionate to your body length? How much can you adjust your clients’ chair after you have set your posture? Balance of loupe weight is most important even if specifications make it a heavier product.

 

The reason you do not focus on magnification to evaluate loupes is because there is no universal standard for magnification. Most companies have their own metric system. What is important to know is that all loupes are within 15% of their stated magnification power. A better way to differentiate loupes is based on their clear Resolution, and width and depth of field.

 

Why clear resolution? Because dental hygiene practice involves making observations in millimeters having a loupe without high resolution is useless. An example is imagine you are watching your favorite cable show on an old analogue television, big picture (like big magnification), but poor resolution and compare this with a new HD television flat screen. The flat screen is wider and has more resolution.

 

Why do you need a really wide field of view? A wider field of view, the smoother of a transition to bring your instrument from unmagnified view to a 2.5 times magnified image.

 

Lastly, why do you need a long field of depth? The loupe has corrected your posture, but if you do not have the ability to see past the anterior, to the posteriors you are losing your macro view of your patients mouth and you will need to still move in closer for you to achieve the clear view. The longer field of depth means you have the ability to sit up right with correct posture and see both anterior and posterior.

 

Two different dental hygienists could be shown the same loupe and because they have different faces, nose, and comfort levels they will have different perceptions. That is why it is so important to try the loupe on as higher quality loupes have the adjustment function to balance the weight proportionately on different faces. Someone might say one loupe feels lighter than another even though, per specifications, it is a heavier loupe. Most importantly, whatever loupe solution you choose, you must ensure it will have the ability to maximize your effort five days a week, eight hours a day and for the next five to ten years.

 

I would love to hear about your experiences with using loupes in clinical practice or address any further questions you may have.

 

Scott Gibson, loupes specialist

By Judith Rance

My friend, Deanna, had been on the job almost two years when, suddenly one day, it was “down tools, and away.”  As co-workers and friends, some of us had noticed Deanna’s increasing tension and irritability over the preceding months.  Although we knew her quite well, we had no idea what was causing the change in her attitude.  Interestingly, a few months later, I also walked off the job abruptly and several months after that, the third of our Three Musketeers left in tears.

Were we working in a bad environment, for difficult managers, or were we all suffering from some inner crisis?  It’s hard to say if it was either or both factors.  Certainly we were working in an emotionally-charged area of medicine that included long hours and competing demands on our time.  Admittedly, some of the managers we worked with were unenlightened, and there is no doubt that we all had the usual share of personal challenges to deal with.  I do not believe any of us had any underlying medical or psychological problems that would have led us to give up our jobs.

There had to be some reason we three rational people made the decision to give up these well-paying jobs that many people would envy.

So what happened?  Who walks away from a permanent job with a decent salary?  I’ve often looked back on that time and tried to find some insight.  Like many career women, over the years I have made several strategic job changes, but these have been thought-out and goal-oriented, not emotionally based.

If this had only happened once in my career I might not have become as concerned as I am at this time.  Unfortunately, just about year ago this month, I began to feel the same way again. The job I had once loved became a tiresome, frustrating chore.  As the months went by I became chronically irritable and began to find even simple tasks overwhelming.  What surprised me was the intensity of my emotional and physical response to the situation.  Apart from losing my usual positive approach to life, this time I did have a serious physical reaction.  After extensive medical investigation, my physical issue was attributed to stress.  During this time I was not able to rebound with the usual “weekend recovery” that most of us rely on, and even now, months later, I am not at my usual level of energy and production.

On reflection, and after discussions with my doctor, I realize I had, and still have, burnout.  Ultimately, the only solution I could find after 12 months of soul-searching, was to give up my job and although I was deeply saddened by this, I ultimately did give it up.

Until this most recent experience I thought the topic of burnout was something that made an interesting conversation on Oprah but was otherwise a rather vague catchall term.  Although I have a background in medicine, I was not quickly convinced that burnout was a legitimate medical diagnosis.  In fact the medical community, represented by the Merck Manual (a medical diagnostic manual used by physicians) has very little formal comment on burnout.  (1) This is because burnout has a wide range of symptoms that can be confused with other medical problems.  Another problem is that there does not appear to be a biological basis for burnout, although this implication bears further research.

What do we know about burnout?  The dictionary defines it as:  “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration” but I believe this is a fairly simplistic definition for a problem that is impacting so many lives.

We need to look at some of the other factors that are generally seen in a burnout situation.  They include stress due to our hectic lifestyles.  These days we are all in the workforce and many of us are trying to raise children, maintain relationships, and often provide care for our aging parents at the same time.  If that is not bad enough, many of us set the bar very high in terms of the quality of our work.  We are so busy that it can become very hard to find time to unwind.  We live so fast these days that we seldom have time to reflect and evaluate our situations or to even question what we are doing – and the fallout from this is devastating in terms of job loss, family breakdown, and financial loss.

Over the next months I will be looking at the research on burnout in order to more deeply explore the causes, symptoms we should be watching for, the prevention and the cure for this troubling issue.  I also will look at some of the other areas of our lives, like our marriages and our families, which can be impacted by burnout.  This is a serious issue and we all need to be aware of the problem, the prevention, and the solutions.  For me, this research will be personally helpful and I hope it helps you too.

1. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/index.html
2. Dieter,      Korczak.  Beate, Huber.  Kister, Christine.  “Differential      Diagnostic of the Burnout Syndrome.”       GMS Health Technol Assess.       2010; 6: Doc09. Published online 2010 July 5. doi:      10.3205/hta000087

By Tara Wincott

 

Children and youth in Niagara have something to smile about!  Niagara’s Mobile Dental Clinic is a 33-foot Winnebago RV, equipped with a full dental clinic and will be staffed by a registered dental hygienist and certified dental assistant.

The mobile dental clinic will travel throughout Niagara visiting schools and community agencies providing free preventive dental care to children and youth up to their 18^th birthday.  Preventive services will include dental screening, cleaning, fluoride treatments, sealants and oral hygiene education.    With parent consent, our staff can provide these free services without the parent having to take time off work or find transportation.  However, parents are welcome to attend their child’s appointment.  The mobile dental clinic is one strategy to reduce barriers to accessing oral health care; essentially we are bringing the clinic to the client.

Tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease in children 5 to 17 years.  Untreated tooth decay can be devastating to long term health, educational achievements, self image and overall success.  Niagara region does not have fluoride in the water supply; therefore Public Health recommends all residents to floss and brush with fluoride toothpaste twice daily.

Niagara’s Mobile Dental Clinic is 100 per cent funded by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and is one component of the new Healthy Smiles Ontario program.

Appointments are necessary.  For more information call the Dental Health Information Line at 905-688-8248 or 1-888-505-6074 ext. 7399.  The mobile dental clinic schedule can be found at www.niagararegion.ca.

by Chantal Pannell, R.D.H.

I, Chantal Pannell RDH, Owner and Operator of Hilltop Dental Hygiene Clinic was quite content for the past 14 years in a traditional dental setting with other dental providers and staff. However, circumstances happen and take us out of our comfort zones. After relocating to North Bay for my husband’s work, I was relieved to be able to find work even if it was only to cover a maternity leave.

I really enjoyed the office and staff I worked with and was sad to leave my second family. Speaking of family, we chose to expand ours and go from the traditional Millionaires Family to a family of five.

After my maternity leave, my search for employment continued…and continued. I began to research the idea of starting a temp agency for Dental Hygienists but realized it wouldn’t be easy organizing childcare on a whim. Thus, my drive for work led me to open my own dental hygiene clinic.

“Why not? It’s happening down south and is well received”. I began my search for a solid business plan and wanted to bring everything I have learned over the years as a dental hygienist to North Bay.

“I LOVE GOING TO WORK SINCE WE’VE BUILT IT FROM THE GROUND UP. IT WAS TRULY A FAMILY EFFORT!”

I enjoy my profession and being able to do what Iove in my own setting appealed to me. My husband: my biggest supporter, contractor, laborer, promoter etc…believed in me and the idea that together we could do this. Many will say that family business will ruin a marriage. I disagree.

We were able to work as a team and had the same vision in a clinic. It is bright, modern and clients can feel relaxed while receiving quality and thorough oral care. My goal is, and has always been to provide the best preventative dental care to ALL. I plan on giving back to our community by raising funds for local charities such as my Gathering Place Annual event. I was able to raise enough money for two days of food at our local soup kitchen and will continue this charitable event annually.  In addition, I look forward to taking part in the Gift from the Heart event, which allows people of all walks of life to receive dental cleanings free of charge.

In closing, I feel lucky to be able to say, “I love going to work since we’ve built it from the ground up and that it was truly a family effort!”

 

 

by Carolyn Kay R.D.H.

We all know there are guidelines for keeping health records; our regulatory bodies have provided clarity on the mechanics of recordkeeping such as what to record, how to record, how long to retain records and even how to destroy records when the retention period is over. I believe most dental hygienists strive to follow the guidelines. But I have two questions arising from two different hats that I wear in my current professional life (dental hygiene educator and office manager) and one from a previous professional role with the health records and information management profession.

 

Recent graduates of dental hygiene programs are notorious for writing volumes into client care records. As students, they are taught the legal importance of complete and accurate recordkeeping.  And that is absolutely a good thing. But following proscribed recordkeeping practices can be time-consuming and “space”- consuming. It is not unusual for one chart entry to take up a half page in a record! My own involvement in practice has moved away from direct care provider into office management so time and space elements of recordkeeping are on my mind. Lengthy chart entries take time. When is that time found in the course of a day? How much time on average is allocated to recordkeeping? Does the time required detract from client care or other responsibilities?  And finally, how can we manage the growing size of paper dental records? Knowing how to capture succinctly the important information with the appropriate depth of detail is a skill that takes time to learn. It is, however, an important skill not only because of the rules established by regulatory bodies but also because that same chart entry often is the beginning of a client’s next dental visit and ultimately continuity of care.  If we’re going to record it, we need to use it.  Medical records, especially in institutional settings, are scrutinized for myriad types of data that, when analysed and processed, yield important information such as what procedures are done, how many are done and in what timeframes they are done; wait times for procedures; costs; demographics of the patients treated; and so on. The information is then used for decision-making for the institution but also within the greater healthcare system.

 

So my first question:  How do dental hygienists utilize the information recorded in or gleaned from a dental record? When you look at the date that radiographs were last taken, or the date of the last “cleaning” do you consider that data along with other data such as recent illnesses, new medications, a client’s new job, periodontal status, fluoride use, diet etc, etc, etc....to support a client-specific dental hygiene treatment plan? Do you track caries experience over time? Do you look for recommended treatment that was not completed and discuss this with the client? Do you enquire about wellness indicators such as tobacco use and bring tobacco cessation into the picture? Do you ask clients about their sports activities and address the importance of wearing a well-designed mouth guard when warranted? Do you ask denture wearers about their diet? Do you ask your client if they are satisfied with the appearance of their teeth? Do you make appropriate referrals? The client record should be the catalyst for asking such questions the answers to which should shape overall client care.  We may well be compliant with recordkeeping guidelines, but are we processing fully the data we collect, thinking critically, and applying the information to benefit client care? Dental hygiene students are expected to develop client care plans through this process; however, what happens outside of the academic sphere where often, pressures of time management can influence data gathering, processing and application?

 

My second question is about record retention. Managing the accumulation of charts is a challenge for many offices.  Some resort to off-site storage at additional expense, or make do with additional filing cabinets or boxes (or both) that often clutter the physical office space.  Despite the move toward electronic records in the wider healthcare system, the fully paperless dental office is not commonplace. Wearing my office management hat I wonder: Do you have any practical tips for efficient recordkeeping that fulfills regulatory guidelines, provides a framework for excellent client care and keeps “paper space” to a minimum?

 

We need to ask the questions to get answers that will enable us to provide the best client care. The more questions we ask the more answers we will get, and the more information we must record, integrate and process. That paper chart is getting thicker by the minute! I’d love to know your thoughts.