This week I had the pleasure of doing a private hygiene training workshop for one of my wonderful new clients. One of the things I love doing most as a hygiene coach is looking at the setup of their operatory and how I can help them better manage their time by creating better flow during treatment.

What I found in this hygiene op was the tiniest thing but it made the biggest difference in staying on time while delivering outstanding care.

The hygiene team was struggling with implementing perio charting in the computer. Their keyboard was on the counter but it wasn’t positioned where they could easily turn and enter the pocket depth numbers. The cool thing was…the keyboard was wireless. So i just picked it up and put it right to the left of the instrument tray and voila! They could now easily access the keyboard and enter their perio charting whether they had an assistant or not. They were amazed at how easy the solution was.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Really, Rachel? Why didn’t they think of that themselves? I have to admit, I’ve had things in my business that drive me nuts and it’s taken someone else looking with an objective eye to help me shift one tiny thing and it’s made all the difference.

When you’re in the thick of it. When you’re ‘in the weeds’ as they say in the restaurant world, you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re just trying to make it through your day and do the best you can for your patients. As a hygiene consultant, I see this almost daily.

So what are some of those ‘little things’ that you can change today that will make a difference? Here are a few:

-create shortcut buttons on your practice software for treatment planning so you don’t have to sift through all the codes every time

-pull the intraoral camera out of the lab and keep it in the operatories at all times

-use the quad buttons on your treatment planning screen so when you click on SRP you can then click all the quads you need at one time instead of entering treatment 4 times

-put xray holders in each op so you don’t have to go to the lab each time you need them

-use the ‘Lock’ button found on some perio charting software (EagleSoft has it) when you’re charting bleeding-saves a ton of time

-store instruments in your room so you don’t have to go to sterilization between patients

-keep a bur block and handpiece in each hygiene op so you don’t have to go digging when a patient needs an adjustment during a doc exam