McKenzie Management의 CEO인 Sally McKenzie의 칼럼을 덴탈아리랑 Global 섹션을 통해 소개합니다.
만약 치과내 직원이 일과의 10~30%만 한다면? 핸드피스 출력이 20%밖에 나오지 않는다면? 과연 참을수 있을까? 대부분 참지 못할 것이다. 진료실에 투자하는 각종 (첨단)기자재 및 시스템은 어떨까? 애써 투자한 최신 시스템을 효율적으로 사용하기 위해 치과의사가 숙지해야 할 부분은 다음과 같다.
1. 우리 치과의 술식비전 점검에서 시작한다. 최신 기술이 가져올 변화는 무엇인가? 그 혜택을 무엇인가를 따져본다.
2. 새로운 시스템으로 인해 치과경영이나 운영 면에서 도움이 되는지를 구체적으로 점검한다. 예를 들면, 예약관리, 치료설명과 동의율 상승효과, 치료비용 조달관련, 환자일정을 좀 더 성공적으로 관리할 수 있도록 해준다든지...
3. 현재 병원에서 보유한 기술(기자재)을 살펴본다. 즉, 하드웨어, 소프트웨어, 네트워크 능력 등을 종합해서 점검한다.
4. 모든 것을 한번에 해결하거나 얻으려 하지 말라. 단계별로 차근차근 접목할 계획을 수립하라.
5. 스탭을 교육시켜라.
6. 지속적으로 (새로운)기술에 대한 예산을 배정하라.
결국 팀 교육에 최선을 다해 역량을 쏟아라. 병원내 접목하는 교육이나 소프트웨어에 따라 여러 단계를 거치지 않고 한 가지에만 충실해도 충분히 그 비용대비 효과를 높일 수 있다.
Technology: Bells, Whistles, and Waste
By Sally McKenzie, CEO
What if members of your team put forth a mere 10%-30% effort daily? What if your handpieces operated at 20% power? Or the lighting in your operatory was reduced to just 10%? Would you tolerate that? Of course not, yet when it comes to the productivity of practice technology, doctors and their teams will tolerate inefficiencies, poor performance, and very low return on investment. And it’s not because the technology can’t deliver what is promised. Rather, it’s because too often dentists like to feel as though they are getting a good deal. Let me explain.
When dentists make major technology purchases for their practices, many will convince themselves that they don’t need to “waste time and money” on the training program that can be purchased as part of the package. After all, the doctors may reason that the new gadget, software or hardware should be intuitive enough that anyone could figure it out. So the doctor passes on the training options and plans to teach himself and his team. It’s a great idea that almost never works.
As dentists, you are expert clinicians and superior problem solvers. Unfortunately, because you are so effective in these areas, you often convince yourselves that you can figure out how to use just about any product or device. However, as the primary producer in the practice, the chief executive officer, and in some cases the human resources director, you don’t have time to serve as vice president of information/practice technologies and corporate trainer too.
Before long, that expensive new equipment or software is pushed aside - but you continue to promise yourself that this is just a temporary delay.
Without a plan, it is easy to be seduced by the latest model of this and the greatest model of that, only to end up with a mishmash of excellent equipment that is, together, an inefficient jumble of bells, whistles, and big bucks. Let's take a step-by-step approach to determine how to most effectively integrate technology into the practice.
1. Start with a technology vision for the practice. How do you want the practice to use technology? How do you want patients to benefit from technology?
2. Identify which system your technology purchase will enhance and improve, such as scheduling, treatment presentation and acceptance, treatment financing, reduction in broken or failed appointments, etc.
3. Conduct your technology inventory. Examine what you have in hardware, software, and networking capabilities.
4. Don’t try to do it all at once. Plan to integrate technology in stages.
5. Train staff.
6. Budget for technology on an ongoing basis.
Finally, pay attention to best practices for team training. Depending on the technology or software that you are integrating into your practice, in some cases training dollars are better spent if the instruction enables staff to master one element of a system before moving on to the next.
