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Ensuring the entire team is following the same protocols, and not going off in different directions, is essential for practice success. By Lynne Testoni
A dental clinic is, more often than not, a place full of well-trained, highly skilled professionals working to offer the best outcomes in the oral health of their patients.
But when that talented team, who may all be doing their best, have distinctly different ideas about best practice protocols, problems can arise—not just among the staff but also in the patient experience.
Such problems are usually the result of how well protocols have been set, and how often training is offered.
Catherine Succar is the practice manager of Sydney’s Elite Dental, and says communication is the key to maintaining good teamwork. “We hold regular meetings tailored to different team needs—some focused on nurses and administrative staff, while others involve our dentists and oral health therapists,” Succar says.
“Our management team has almost daily informal meetings to address emerging needs and operational updates in real time.”
Succar believes having ongoing discussions help to set a consistent standard with their aim of ensuring every team member is clear about expectations in terms of delivering consistent, high-quality patient care.
The most common challenges she encounters among staff involve coordinating schedules, balancing workload among team members, and handling high-stress situations, she says. “Communication gaps or misunderstandings can arise in fast-paced environments, so it’s vital to have clear, respectful communication practices in place.”
Strategic HR consultant and coach Elizabeth Barron works with many small businesses on organisational design, looking at the overall health of how a business performs. She advises that before you tackle particular processes and operating systems, the practice team leader needs to focus on the culture of the organisation.
“The centre of every organisation is culture,” she says. “This is the behaviours and values you demonstrate collectively. You also need to provide direction and goals to help you achieve that direction. Then you look at your systems and workflows, how you work together and collaborate to achieve the practice goals.
Our management team has almost daily informal meetings to address emerging needs and operational updates in real time.
Catherine Succar, practice manager, Elite Dental
“Obviously the dental profession is highly skilled, but the behaviour side to the work is very important also. You need to have the capability—the skills, experience and behaviours—to actually deliver the best result. Everything should be consistent, and patients should know what to expect when they step into the practice.”
Culture in practice
Dr Joanne Lee is the owner of Sale Street Dental in Orange, NSW, a practice she has owned and run for 30 years. She agrees good teamwork and establishing standard and consistent ways of working needs to start with how the culture is set.
“If you have a problem, you should not address it in front of a patient. You need to address it after an appointment. Like if you have a new dental assistant who’s not holding the suction properly, you don’t talk about it in front of a patient.”
Setting standards so they are delivered consistently across all levels of the practice–from the reception desk through to the clinical chair—comes down to effective training and direction that must be implemented from day one and reinforced through regular staff meetings.
It’s also about establishing a culture where the team feel they can ask questions freely, and discussions about the practice procedures should be encouraged and then set, Dr Lee adds.
“I think it’s really important to train someone really well, so they feel confident,” she says, noting that she’s a great believer in offering positive reinforcement.
“I’ve found that if I give some input more often, people are certainly happier. When I say, ‘Look, you’re doing this really well and everyone said you’re really good’, it makes the team environment better. It’s about not assuming that people know if they’re doing a good job; you need to tell them.”
Elizabeth Barron says that while dentists are highly trained professionals, they often aren’t taught managerial skills as part of their training, which can be problematic when they assume a leadership position.
“The same goes for architecture and a lot of professions; you’re not taught how to lead,” she says.
“People who are building these businesses are highly skilled, but suddenly they’re leading a group of people and then having to do all the commercial stuff as well.
“The trick is finding people who really understand the importance of process because you need to have that consistency. This could be an incredible practice manager or some external support for a period to set the team up for success.”
Team STEPPS
One way that some practices have improved the effectiveness of their team is through adopting the Team STEPPS model. This is an evidence-based teamwork training system developed in the US and now regularly adopted throughout Australia as part of health care delivery. It has four teamwork competencies comprising of leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support and communication. The system has been trialled in various health situations throughout Australia with good results.
Sites that have implemented TeamSTEPPS have reported improvements in the following areas*:
- Patient safety culture
- Teamwork and relationships including attitudes towards teamwork and enhanced team behaviours
- Role definition and clarity
- Quality of communication and clinical handover, including structure of multidisciplinary team meetings
- Redistribution of clinical workloads and reduction in observed clinical errors
- Reduction in seclusion rates
- Reduction in incident reports related to falls, documentation and aggression
- Reduction (50% – 2.2 days to 1.1 days) in mean ICU length of stay
