Mastering Perfect Day Scheduling: Strategies for a Productive Dental Office
If you accomplish perfect day scheduling, kudos to you!
No, it’s not rocket science; however, many obstacles can be overcome before the day even starts. Each office schedules differently, and what works for one may not work for others. We all have a different number of clinical staff and operators, and we even offer various varieties of services.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach.
However, we can all agree that we must have organized systems and concentrate on the best patient experience. If that means our “perfect day” scheduling doesn’t quite meet our goals that day, we know we will make up for it at some point, or it could be quite the opposite and exceed the measurement we set forth, and we can celebrate the win!
Try Block Scheduling
Our office uses 10-minute blocks. We put our large cases on a staggering schedule and work all the others in between. One may call it the ROCK-WATER-SAND technique. We have blocks for new patients, perio maintenance, scaling and root planing, and emergencies.
We attempt to have a variety of procedures throughout the day to keep our team members happy and not feeling overwhelmed and overworked.
With our scheduling, we also choose not to attach treatment to our appointments. I know that sounds surprising; however, we have found that by focusing on exceptional patient care and utilizing all our “tools” in the toolbox, we can almost always meet our production goals.
In addition, we overcome the daily challenges of no-shows and last-minute cancels with a quick-call list or same-day treatment.
Some Things We Considered as We Fine-Tuned Our Schedule
- Length of each procedure: Make sure each appointment type has the correct default time in your PMS. You may want to put a stopwatch on each procedure for a few days, analyze your data, and make changes if needed. You do not want to waste time or fall behind. Failing to have corrected times can set your schedule up for many issues.
- Trapped time: Utilize every minute by offering choices that fit your schedule. Having several 10—or 20-minute open slots where you are unable to fit an appointment can add up.
- Reserve time for specific procedures: If you are scheduling out several months ahead, you must have a plan for seeing new patients, attending to emergencies, etc. Your PMS may offer templates you can use, or you can create blocks as we decided to.
- Educating time value: Patients must show up for you to have a schedule. Proper verbiage is key when communicating with your patient. An automated patient reminder through a third-party vendor has helped safeguard our schedule against no-shows. We also implemented an office policy clearly stating our protocols for managing missed appointments.
The Art of Scheduling
Creating an efficient schedule that maximizing time and revenue is a fine art. We need to be able to anticipate, prevent and react to unexpected changes at any time.
From my experience, honing in on these skills takes time.
It is not usually an overnight success. There will be several trial and error moments. Involve your entire team as you devise your plan and lastly have clear communication when implementing these protocols.
About the Author
Julie Burns, MAADOM
Julie manages three dental offices in Nelson County, KY, and has over 25 years of experience in the dental field.
She is a lifetime AADOM member and was inducted into the 2020 Class of AADOM Fellows. Julie received her AADOM Mastership (MAADOM) in 2024.
