Patient Communications - Dental Practice Management

Communications and the New Patient Examination

 

The weakest activity in nearly every dental office is communication. Now more than ever, it is critical that the doctor create a strong trusting relationship with his patients and staff by mastering the skill of communication. One side effect of the current economic crisis is that it has destroyed the public’s trust in many things. No one trusts the banks. No one trusts the government and no one trusts that they will have their job next month. The timing of this could not be more relevant. With proper communication skills, dentists can instill a sense of trust between themselves and their patients which will manifest itself into more treatment acceptance and more referrals of new patients.

What principle competencies are necessary in terms of communication in the relation between the dentist and the patient? When dentists attempt to improve their communication skills, they usually are looking for just the right words to say that will influence the patient’s decisions. They want the magic phrases, the top ten list of things to say that will make their patients say “yes”. Dentists believe that in order to improve communications you need to become a better speaker. Well it doesn’t work that way. That is because there is one competency that must be mastered before any words come out of your mouth. What dentists don't realize is that the most critical and powerful aspect of communication is not speaking, but listening. That's right - listening! Listening is more powerful than speaking. Speaking is the listening spoken. Can you understand that? Listening, not only determines what is heard, but more importantly what is said after the hearing. Listening preempts speaking. Listening shapes speaking. The reasons we don’t listen effectively are that we already think we know what the other is going to say or we think that the other is trying to get something from us. We think that if we really listen that we will have to do something different about the matter, something unfamiliar. Once we start listening effectively and really understand the thoughts and concerns of our patients, then we generate a powerful relationship with our patients - a relationship that makes a mutual future possible. You provide a listening that allows for trust, kinship and commitment.

What are the dangers of not having empathy in this relationship? That is, if you don’t connect emotionally with the patient in visits with that patient? Along with possessing good listening skills, a good communicator is also attentive, open, sensitive, empathetic, and intentional. This is the emotional side of communication and is just as important if not more important than the medical, technical, factual and objective information we are educating our patients with. There is an old saying: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” If good communication required only a transmission of facts and did not require an emotional component to it, then we wouldn’t need the human interaction to communicate. We could print all the pertinent information and hand it to the patient to read. Then the patient would sit back in your chair and let you start treatment. That sounds too mechanical and artificial doesn’t it? The more empathetic you are with you patients, the more successful you will be in your treatment of those patients. The less empathetic you are, the less your patients will trust you. This will eventually cost you your relationship with that patient. Therefore, lack of empathy costs you your future with that person. It costs you their loyalty, kinship, commitment to you and the team. People you don't listen to or empathize with don't stay around. They go somewhere where their emotional needs are met as well.

 During the first visit with your patient, what kind of “presence” should you assume with your patient? How should you be? This is a very good question. Most people would ask what additional things must they “do” to communicate effectively with a new patient. The success of a new patient interaction has more to do with who you are than what you do. Being and doing are very much different from one another. Doing is action. Being is where the action comes from. Being precedes doing. Good communicators tend to have certain core values or personality elements that are part of their “being”. If you integrate these qualities into your own being with discipline and high intention, you will become an effective communicator.

Maintain absolute integrity. Do whatever you say you are going to do. No compromises, no excuses and no reasons. 100% everytime.

Being truthful, candid and straightforward. Don’t brag, exaggerate or tell half truths. If you don’t know something, admit it, and then find out.

Be responsible.You are at all times responsible for everything that occurs in your dental practice, and that includes the outcome of your interaction with your new patients.

In relationship to language, the words you use, what does the dentist have to be careful of? With respect to the type of language you use with your patients, it’s very important to talk to the patient on their level of understanding. As dentists, we tend to talk in technical terms to our patients forgetting that they usually have no idea what we are talking about and forgetting that they will usually pretend to understand you, not wanting to look ignorant. Save the technical talk of enamel decalcification, crown to root ratio, implant integration and periodontal biological width for your colleagues, and instead, talk to your patients about keeping their teeth for a lifetime, improving their ability to chew, and giving them a beautiful straight white smile. Also, replace emotionally charged words and terms with accurate but more neutral ones. Use “procedure” instead of “surgery”. Instead of extracting a tooth, talk about removing it. Talking above a patient’s level of understanding gives the impression that you are talking down to the patient and are in a superior social position. You want your patient to feel as if you are talking as equals.

Using proper communication with the patient how does this affect treatment plan acceptance? By using proper communication techniques, your patients will know that you truly understand their dental problems along with all their fears of treatment and motivations to go ahead with that treatment. When you do this through the presence of your core values, your patients will trust that you will do what is in their best interests. The results of using proper communication skills is that you will see an increase in your treatment plan acceptance rate and an increase in the number of new patients that seek your services. Satisfied patients will tell their friends, and you will not find a marketing scheme on this planet that is more powerful than word of mouth advertising.

How do you know if you are communicating correctly with your patient? The only way you are going to know if you are communicating correctly with your patients is to measure the intended results. Start measuring each month the following statistics:

Number of new patients

Who referred the new patient to you?

The amount of treatment diagnosed on the new patient

The amount of that treatment that was accepted and initiated.

Compare each month with the one previous and you should see a steady increase in your performance. Don’t forget to thank any existing patient who refers a new patient to you with a handwritten letter of appreciation.