Efficiency of a Practice

How’s your office organized? How about the front desk? The operatories? Do you know where everything is? Do your employees?

A lot of time can be wasted searching for equipment and tools, especially if you’re “borrowing” them from other operatories. This shouldn’t be happening, but organizing everything according to how you (the dentist) want it might not actually be the solution.

Different areas of the practice should be organized according to who uses those areas most often. For example, the front desk manager should have the reception area organized to optimize their efficiency. Likewise, if certain operatories are used by hygienists more often than the dentist, the hygienists should be the ones organize those areas.

As the dentist, your “territory” is your office, and whatever special operatories you have where you are the primary user. It may seem odd to say that the hygienists should organize the basic operatories, but this is their work space for 8 hours a day, you just visit. You can always ask them to hand you something, and they’ll know where it is because they’re the ones who organized it. If you’re never in there solo, there’s no need for it to be organized to your preference.

All this being said, it’s important for the entire office to understand how it’s all organized. I’m not saying you can’t touch the operatories, but I am saying that you shouldn’t be telling your hygienists how to organize an operatory they use more than you.

You should also have someone whose job it is to keep track of inventory. Disorganization often leads to buying supplies you already had, but couldn’t find. If you have an assistant keeping inventory and ordering supplies as needed, that problem should be taken care of as well.