Record-taking is an essential part of running a dental practice. Failure to take adequate patient notes could lead to misdiagnosis and even unhappy patients that may leave your practice entirely. Ultimately, poor quality patient notes lead to failed dentistry, which isn’t what you want to be known for. It’s important that everyone on your team knows what to document and how to prevent these failures. Today on the blog, we are going to discuss six reasons why taking quality patient notes is a must.
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To get a full view of the patient’s dental history
Inefficient patient notes mean that you aren’t getting a full picture of your patient’s dental history, which is something that all team members need to be aware of. Even the front office staff need to know the patient’s history for dental insurance purposes and pretreatment estimates, which often require detailed descriptions. These notes also help when a patient comes back with a dental problem, needing further treatment. The scheduler knows what type of appointment is needed, and how long to schedule it.
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To prevent misdiagnosis
Poor quality patient notes mean that you are missing important details that could lead to a misdiagnosis, which opens the door to a whole other list of potential problems. To make an accurate diagnosis, you must know everything going on with your patient’s oral health, as well as any past treatments. This also is helpful if you have to refer your patient to another office; all collaborative care providers can and should be on the same page.
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Avoid re-dos
Your time is valuable, and the last thing you want is to have to redo work because of something that could have been prevented. Ineffective patient notes may lead to failed dental work, which leads to more remakes. This not only is inconvenient for you and costs you more money in the long run, but your patients won’t like it either. It could lead to unhappy patients, which takes us to our next point.
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Prevent unhappy patients
Just imagine if you saw a doctor that misdiagnosed your condition, provided sub-par treatment, and then had to retreat you because of their own mistakes. How confident would you feel in seeing that doctor again? Probably not confident at all. In fact, you’d probably find you another practitioner. Your patients are no different. They expect the same quality care from you, as you do from your own practitioners. If they aren’t happy with their treatments, they will leave, and they probably won’t refer others to your office either!
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Prevent losing revenue
Losing patients can mean one thing, loss of revenue. This is the last thing that you want to happen when running a dental practice. You’ve got bills, employees’ salaries, and your own paycheck to fulfill every month. Losing patients means losing revenue, and you could quickly end up in a bad spot, or even forced to downsize your staff. This would be the beginning of a downward spiral that may be difficult to come back from, especially without the help of a top-rated dental consultant.
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Prevent poor dentistry
The bottom line is that lousy patient notes result in poor dentistry. That’s not going to help you build or even sustain your practice. Taking effective patient notes is vital to the success of your practice, and it makes your job and the job of your team easier. It not only means that you will provide better care to your patients, but it strengthens the line of communication you have with your dental care team.
If you would like to learn more effective ways of taking quality patient notes or need help training your staff on how to do so, contact Bryant Consultants today for a consultation.
