Dental Practice Phone Abuse Is it Taking Over?

Dental practice phone abuse is more common than you think, but it doesn’t have to happen to you.

Your phone is attached at the hip. You quickly find the answers to your questions and keep up to date with all your family and friends. There is no denying, your phone isn’t going anywhere, and it is here to stay.

Unfortunately, the humble phone rules our lives; we are also a slave to our phone. The, “Ping,” tells you someone wants you, has something to add to your life in this instant so a large part of your brain is aware that you are wanted. It is hard to avoid the feeling of, “Being wanted.” Avoiding the urge to pick up the phone, even when you are working, can be tough.

It is said 60% of our high school students are addicted to their phones. Youth are sharing 100 texts a day. The phone is running our lives.

How do you handle this in your practice, for your Doctor, your team and your patients?

Setting phone boundaries with your team, your patients, and the doctor should help prevent abuse. However, according to Blatchford Solutions phone monitoring and/or discipline may be required in some instances.

If your team is constantly on the phone checking their social media pages, talking to friends or shopping online while they should be performing other tasks can affect your dental practice. Constant phone use can cause missed deadlines, production and forced overtime. The disruption caused by personal conversations and loud ringing disrupts the daily flow and can even frustrate the rest of the team.

As Blatchford Dental Coaching explains, there are some things you can do to prevent phone abuse in your dental practice.

Limit Usage

Dentists can combat phone abuse by setting usage limits. Come up with a plan that sets limits for the team. Limit personal phone use to breaks and emergencies. You can even ban phone use in certain areas or the entire premises.

Phone Policy

A written phone policy is crucial if you want to combat phone use in your dental practice. Written rules are much easier to interpret and can never be disputed when they are written in straight forward language that will outline your rules and any potential disciplinary action that will come if the phone rules aren’t adhered to. If for example a team member’s phone use should cause a lawsuit or a loss of information that is proprietary, the signed acknowledgement will support any action that may be taken against the dental practice and the team member.

Phone Monitoring

Monitor your team. Observing actions will reveal who is breaking the dental practice phone abuse rules. When you observe your team, you can discipline or coach the rule breakers while making policy revisions for any loopholes. Blatchford Solutions explains that when you monitor, the team will be less likely to break the rules as well. You can also monitor the team by checking for internet overages and phone records for personal calls on your company phone records for dental practice phone abuse.

Practice Site Reminders

You can reduce dental practice phone abuse by posting reminders in the break rooms, rest rooms and even the waiting room. Remind patients to turn off their phones before they enter the practice room, as it will help speed up the appointment and prevent delays.

If you have designated areas for phone use, remind team members and patients. This will make it tough for the team and patients to claim ignorance when it comes to your dental practice phone policies and dental practice phone abuse.

Disciplinary Action

Once your dental practice phone abuse reminders and rules have been set up it is important to reinforce them. If a team member is constantly bending or breaking the rules, it is important to follow through with the disciplinary actions that were outlined in your dental practice phone policy. Following through shows the abuser and the rest of the team that you are committed to your phone abuse policy.

Dental practice phone abuse can be avoided when you follow through with a written policy to combat the problem. Blatchford Dental Coaching has tried and true dental marketing solutions that can help you get rid of dental practice phone abuse once and for all.

Call Blatchford Solutions for more information regarding dental practice marketing today.