The Power ofDental Team Collaboration: Communication in a Digital World
The Power of Dental Team Collaboration: Communication in a DigitalWorld
Faiella, R. A., Holtzclaw, D., & Rhodes, P. (2015). The Power ofDental Team Collaboration: Communication in a Digital World.Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry, 36, 22-29.
Tomanage a dental practice with conventional approaches and processesis no longer efficient in the digital age. All parts of practice areimpacted by the digital shift – education, patient care, andtreatment planning (patient records, financial, and marketing). Usingcomponents that are more efficient today and the future requires abetter understanding of why and how the Electronic Health Records(EHR) came about, its benefits, and challenges. Questions surroundingthe EHR are where, when, how, and why making introduction and changesfrom the typical paper charts.
EHRwas first used in 1965 as an initiative by the National LibraryMedicine towards making biomedical information readily available tohealthcare clinicians. Critical to EHR application is theinteroperability concept. The concept is the ability of two differentsystems to exchange information, while using the interchangedinformation. All healthcare providers would be able to exchange andshare the right information rather than having to experience, whilethe patients complete medical histories at each clinician`s office.
Ascollaborating and coordinating care demands proper communication, anEHR must ensure adequate communication among the team of healthproviders. Even when there is no financial incentive to change to anEHR system, the dentists have a lot to gain on matters around thebetter provision of patient care, acquiring an efficientrecordkeeping equipment, reducing lawsuit risks, and betterimplementation of an EHR system.
Reasonsto convert to an HER system is based on the need to achievemeaningful use of the scheme. Approximately 80% of primary carephysicians would achieve such result. Only 14% of individual dentistsare using the HER system in the United States. In general, choosingthe right system requires a follow-up on the office workflow thatmakes it intuitive enough for the staff, use of a standardizedvocabulary, and the Current Dental Terminology (CDT) codes. Thisterminology ought to be synchronized between the dental practice`sclinical records and the billing system. When selecting the HERsystem, several referral companies should be inquired and asked tocarry out a web demonstration of their flagship products. The primaryfocus should be on how specific applications work towards solving thechallenges previously written down by the dental team.
Aftersuccessful selection of the system, proper installation and trainingmust follow. A senior member of the staff, preferably the manager,should be identified as the champion the project. He or she should bethe one to answer questions and interact with the software company onany arising issues during training. The practice will need at least amonth for the completion of the rehearsal.
Onmatters dental practice and Internet media, it is critical thatdentists in private practice recognize and learn that the dentaloffice is a business, which can potentially fail if its operationsare not handled correctly. Therefore, there is a need to market thepractice as a critical component of the firm. Marketing includes theuse of advertising and Internet media. However, there are alsolimitations on Internet advertising, and that the dentists shouldunderstand.
Inconclusion, hiring consultants for Internet advertising come with itslimitations. Such limitations come up when these specialists cannotexplain a method or procedure used the same way as the dentist. Forinstance, an expert may apply a prewritten copy of generics, which inother areas, may fail to match the treatment approach and thephysician`s philosophy. As a result, it ends up confusing the patientwho may read the website only for the dentist in charge to contradictit on the site. Therefore, there is a need for clinicians to makesure accuracy and quality of the content are up-to-date and isfrequently monitored.